Will They Come?
by Preciousheart93
Summary: A sequel to my "epic" Changes, AKA Concept Album Extravaganza. On the fifth and last year of the doomed planet Earth's existence, the surviving humans are picked up by otherworldy beings and deposited onto a new planet, where they must build a new society and fend off attacks by teenage ruffians who call themselves the Diamond Dogs- and defend themselves from far worse threats.
1. Author's Note

Author's Note to Those Who Are Not In The Know

This story is a sequel to another story I once wrote, entitled _Changes _or more often referred to as _Concept Album Extravaganza. _I finished it on October 29th, 2012, and two days later was inspired to write a sequel. I started this story the next day as an attempt at a piece for NaNoWriMo. _Concept Album Extravaganza _was, as the title would suggest, a story about characters from various concept albums, or rock operas, such as _The Wall _by Pink Floyd, _American Idiot _by Green Day, _Mylo Xyloto _by Coldplay, and _The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars _by David Bowie. A few characters from CAE are reprised here; this is a sequel after all. I would like to point out that I do not own the characters of Haushinka, Hallowe'en Jack, Aladdin Sane, Mylo, or Xyloto. Though I gave these characters more life than their owners ever did, I was not the one to create them.

This story is at once an homage to the album _Diamond Dogs _by David Bowie (which was itself an homage to the novel _1984 _by George Orwell) and the novel _A Clockwork Orange _by Anthony Burgess, which is one of my favorite books. There is a common use of Nadsat-talk, the language that Burgess invented for his novel, in here. If any readers are confused about the words used, Google "nadsat dictionary" to find a helpful index.

That's all, and I hope you enjoy the story!


	2. Prologue

"_Youth must go, ah yes. But youth is only being in a way like one of those toys you see being sold in the street. Made out of tin with a spring inside, and then a handle on the outside that you wind and then off it goes walking. But it walks in a straight line and bangs straight into things bang bang and it cannot help what it is doing. Being young is like being one of these machines."_

-Anthony Burgess, _A Clockwork Orange_

"_And in the Death, as the last few corpses lay rotting on the slimy thoroughfare, the shutters lifted in inches in Temperance Building, high on Poacher's Hill, and red mutant eyes gazed down on Hunger City. No more big wheels. Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats, and ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes. Converting the highest of the sterile skyscrapers like packs of dogs assaulting the glass fronts of Love-Me Avenue, ripping and rewrapping mink and shiny silver fox, now legwarmers. Family badged of sapphire and cracked emerald. Any day now- the year of the Diamond Dogs."_

-David Bowie, "Future Legend"

No one noticed when they first arrived. No one saw, and no one cared.

The glistening noses of the ships broke through the noxious yellow fumes that now choked the life out of the Earth and all of its inhabitants, passing through the fog as easily as a knife cuts through butter. The fumes were turned away by the ship's radiant energy, its passengers breathing the air without any ill-effects. All hands were on deck and all eyes were below, scanning the barren Earth for any sign of life and vitality.

A ramshackle house stood at the border of what once had been a marvelous city, its four inhabitants lying prone on the floor. They were part of the rare few who had managed to survive the yellow fumes and the blood-red rains for long enough, but there was no celebrating this fact. According to the date- though many others had stopped keeping track of time a year ago, these four people made a point to do so, allowing each day to last as long as it could and should- this was the day of destruction. Today the Earth, already exhausted from its natural resources, would give up struggling for a breath and pass on, and those left alive would quickly perish. The three inhabitants of the house, beginning to be overcome by fumes despite the presence of their gas masks, said what was sure to be their last goodbye's.

"Goodbye, Mylo. I… I love you."

"Goodbye, Xyloto. See you on the other side."

The third and fourth people were too young to say goodbye. They did nothing but cough. The family huddled close together and closed their eyes collectively, preparing. Any moment now, the breath would leave their lungs forever. Any moment now…

By the time the passengers on board the gleaming ships had picked them up, the four family members were unconscious, so that it appeared all hope was lost. But this was not to be. Below deck, the passengers of the ship fed nutrients directly into their bodies and revived them with clean oxygen, the first they had breathed in two years. Soon the four new passengers came to their senses, blinking in astonishment at the unfamiliar sights all around them and wondering if this was what the afterlife resembled.

"Where are we?" asked the young woman, the mother in her small family. But the ship's passengers, though they appeared to have heard the question, revealed no secrets.

It wasn't until days of travel that the ships reached new ground and deposited their loads onto the distant shores of a healthy planet. And although none of the passengers had ever answered the woman's question, she felt she knew exactly what they would have said.

_Wherever you want to be._


	3. Chapter 3

Among the denizens brought to that far-off planet were another mother and her young child. This child had been in a stupor for the majority of the trip. He ate and drank, but seemed not to see the world around him. Now, on his first night in his new home, the coma was shattered. His blue eyes opened wide, taking in every detail of himself, of his mother, of the building they now lived in, all by themselves. And when he grew older, he began to ask questions regarding these new things, in the typically inquisitive manner of a child.

"Where do we live?"

"We live here," his mother, the only one to around answer his questions, responded. "We live on a planet without a name, outside a city without a name. We live in this house all alone. That's why I call it _here."_

"Why do we live here?" he asked brightly.

"We used to live on another planet. Then it died, and we were brought here by Saviors who came down from the clouds. We have to live outside of the city because it's dangerous on the inside."

He nodded, remembering. He was only five Earthly years old, and thus didn't have much of a memory from the past years. But a few things stuck out in his mind, impossible to forget. Yellow fog… glowing green eyes…

The memories made him shiver, and he hastily turned his mind back onto another question.

"Are there other people like us?"

"Yes," his mother said. "There are people who live in the city, but if luck is on our side we will never come to meet them. The city people are bad people." _City people are bad people _echoed around in his brain, a lesson never to be forgotten. _City people are bad people._

"What about my family? Do we have a family?"

"No," she said. "It's just you and me, Jack. Everyone else is dead. I wish it wasn't like that."

Later- it could have been weeks or months or even a year later- his mother explained to him where his father had gone. He had never known he had a father before, and listened raptly, his semi-pointed ears pricking in interest.

"Your father's name was Ziggy Stardust. He was a musician- a singer and a songwriter. He played guitar like no one else in the history of music. We met one night, but our relationship didn't last very long. I left him, and a few days later he was murdered onstage by a group of evildoers. I found out later that I was pregnant with you. And then I gave birth to you."

She showed him a large cardboard box full of odds and ends. Most of the papers inside related to her, but the ones she removed and told him to pay careful attention to all pertained to his missing father. His soft young hands touched the wrinkled paper as if it held a kind of magic, his blue eyes fastened to the face depicted on the page. His father had long orange hair and a red lightning bolt painted down one side of his face. His eyes were blue to match his son's, one a bit darker than the other on account of a dilated pupil. He stared at his father's image for a long, long time, until his mother packed everything back up again.

"Mommy, did you love my daddy?"

"No, not ever. I was young and foolish. I let him take advantage of me."

"But you had me."

"Yes, I had you. I had you because I wanted you, and I wanted you because I love you." She stooped to give her son an embrace. "No matter what happens, I am not letting you go, Jack."

He hugged her back. "I love you too, Mommy."


	4. Chapter 4

Nine years later, the same boy who had questioned his mother so often now rose from his bed and stood up to blink and stretch in the sun's early morning glow. He yawned and leaned over, touching his toes, and whispered his usual morning prayer in his mind. _May the love of God bless this day and preserve it. _Straightening up, he cracked his back a few times and ended the familiar ritual with a bow. _Amen._

His mother didn't believe in religion, but Jack had always found it to be a surprising comfort to him. He couldn't remember, now, where he had first learned of such a thing as a God. It felt as if he'd been saying prayers every morning for as long as he'd lived, rising early so as to greet the sun and not have his mother look on disapprovingly.

Of course, there was also another reason for waking up so early each morning. Jack dressed himself in his usual attire, consisting of a red-and-black striped T-shirt, faded jeans, and well-worn sneakers, and gathered up his knapsack from the corner of the room. Inside it were the few items that Jack considered very important in his life- a tube of sunscreen, a pocket-size copy of the Earthly Bible, a Bowie knife with its sheath, and an old Earthly newspaper from many years ago. Jack had only taken the front page, and he had memorized the cover story by heart. BRITISH ROCK SENSATION ZIGGY STARDUST MURDERED IN SUFFRAGETTE CITY. He stole one glance at his father's forgotten face before lacing up his knapsack and throwing it onto his back.

Quietly, Jack trod across the rug on his bedroom floor and glided over the wood surface of the hall outside his room. He slipped silently downstairs so as not to awaken his mother, holding his breath until he was in the kitchen. Once there, Jack opened the icebox and removed one slice of bread and the last of the butter. He sighed softly as he cut and spread the butter with his knife, placing yet another item on his mental shopping list.

If Jack lingered at his house for too long, his mother might wake up and find him downstairs and it would all be over. (Not that she ever woke up at this hour, however. Jack occasionally entered her room to give her a morning kiss, and she never woke to the touch of his lips, her forehead always creased even in deep sleep, as if she were puzzling out complicated problems that she couldn't handle awake.) Even the sight of bread crumbs would put her on alert, for there were strict rules in the household against eating alone. Jack understood how important it was to ration, and he always made sure there was enough food and water for himself and his mother before taking anything. Still, it was unwise for Jack to have used up the last of the butter. He comforted himself by reminding, _At least today is shopping day, and I'll get to bring some butter back if there's any available in town. _If there was any available in town… Jack crept out the door and swung in closed behind him, cracking a sideways grin at the sun over his head. He had to hurry to get into the city before anyone else arrived.

Setting his feet on the asphalt road that he had walked several times before, Jack took the moment to heavily apply the sunscreen in his knapsack all over the exposed skin on his face, hands, and neck. The sun was akin to a God, true, but it was a merciless God, scalding Jack's fair pink skin a darker red. Seeing Jack's sunburn always upset his mother, and in Jack's opinion it was very unsavory to upset his mother. Therefore, he now made sure to restock on sunscreen as well as everything else on shopping day.

As Jack walked, he shoved his hands in his pockets and rolled a pebble along the road, his eyes and heart fixed firmly on the destination before him. _Hunger City _was the name that Earthly inhabitants had given their new home, at least based on Jack's inferences. He had heard the name spoken several times during his few excursions in the city, although his mother had always told him the city had no name. Whichever tale was true, Jack had to admit that he preferred Hunger City to anything else. It was a fitting moniker for such a wasteland.

Soon the towering, beaten-up buildings of Hunger City began to loom over Jack's head, and he let out an anxious breath as he always did, his heart starting to flutter. Here in the city, it was important to see and not be seen. Jack had never let any of those "bad city people" come close enough to register his face, always sticking to the shadows that the sun and the skyscrapers created. He seemed to have a knack for finding such nooks and crannies. Jack turned down an alleyway to check out his most recently-discovered haunt, a hole in the wall that served fresh hot dogs and hamburgers. Jack figured it would be useful if he ever grew hungry and needed to eat while still out shopping, and the Dumpsters out back had to yield something good. Skirting through the shadows, he pulled up next to the main Dumpster and lifted the lid, peering inside of search of sweet hamburger meat. When food was hard to come by at home, anything would do. Jack grinned as his fingers hit gold- several half-burned hot dog wieners and a few hamburger patties were left to rot in the bottom of the Dumpster. Jack dug the precious food out and tossed the meat in his knapsack. _I'll have to clean them later…_

Done with scavenging through the Dumpster, Jack headed back out into the alley, moving swiftly. With luck, no one would even notice his presence. His feet carried him through the wakening city towards a much different place, a familiar location. The faded lettering on its outside read simply _Drugstore. _Often Jack had wondered if this meant it was the only drugstore in Hunger City. He hadn't been around the city often enough to find out.

This was the part of shopping day that Jack could never stand. His mother had had it drilled into him ever since he was a child- _Stealing is wrong. Lying is wrong. Hurting others is wrong. _But desperate times called for desperate measures, as the saying went, and Jack's worry over the scarcity of food at home had driven him to break these imposed moral codes. He still hated having to do it, even after two weeks of breaking himself into the habit, but got through it by reminding himself that his mother did not have access to any form of currency and therefore could no longer buy supplies, and if he didn't take the supplies for himself he and his mother would run out of them and starve.

Jack took a deep breath and plunged into an alley that took him to the back door of the drugstore. The place was always open, a careless mistake for the owner to make in such a dangerous city. Sometimes Jack would gulp, ashamed, when he realized that he too was considered a "bad city person." Shoving those thoughts back, for they would bring him no courage, Jack slipped up to the back door and set his fingers carefully on the handle, turning the knob. He leaned in with his body, expecting the door to give way beneath his weight as it always did. But for the first time, the door did not budge. The shopkeeper must have realized that his wares were being depleted and taken precautionary measures.

_Damn, _Jack swore in his mind, stepping back on trembling legs. The drugstore had been his main source of supplies that were badly needed at home. He had to commend the shopkeeper's ability to take action, but what would it mean now for him? Turning away, the clatter of a metal trash can brought Jack's complete attention to his surroundings. He jerked and swung towards the ruckus, in time to see a large gray dog pawing through the trash can's contents. It searched the garbage for a little while before giving up on finding food, and as it turned away, its eyes caught sight of Jack standing a little ways down the alley. The two creatures stared at each other for a second before the dog let out a huff and trotted away, back to the city streets. Jack gazed after it.

_We're not so different, dog, _he thought in the animal's direction. _You and I only want food, just like everyone else in this hungry city._

At that moment, Jack became aware of a squeaking sound coming towards him from behind. A second later he was attacked.

A pair of hands grabbed hold of Jack's shoulders from behind, and he jumped and tried to spin around. But the hands had latched onto his knapsack and as Jack turned to try and see his opponent's face, his arms got tangled in the bag's straps. Someone's leg wrapped around Jack's leg, trying to trip him. He struggled viciously and ended up crashing to the ground as more people surrounded him, looking down on him. Jack lashed out with his fists, but the assailants blocked his punches. One of the unknown people jammed their boot into his chest, while two others dragged his knapsack off of his back and spilled its contents on the ground before pinning his arms down. Yet another person dropped to his knees and pressed a blade to Jack's throat. He was trapped, having committed the thoughtless crime of allowing himself to be seen.

"We meet at last, oh my brother," the boy- for they were all boys, Jack noticed- holding Jack's chest down said, his eyes glinting as he peered down upon his catch. "Me and my droogs have been watching you for a week now. You are not from the city."

Jack struggled, albeit warily, for there was still a blade at his throat, and spat, "Who are you?" This was quickly followed by, "Let me go!"

The boys holding Jack's arms down giggled, and their leader smiled, his thin, crusty lips twisting upwards. "We will not let you go, my brother, until we have decided whether or not you have any veshches that might be polezny or dorogoy to us. What were you carrying in that gloopy bag of yours?"

The two boys holding Jack's arms now retrieved the items from Jack's knapsack with their free hands while Jack glared angrily. "There's nothing in my knapsack that's important to any of you. Give it back and _let me go!" _He was glad that his voice didn't betray the fear that was leaking through his veins, didn't give any hints to the wild beating of his heart that he was sure the lead attacker could feel through his boot. _Please, God, _he prayed silently, _let it just be supplies that they're after. _What would his mother think if she woke up and found her loving son had disappeared?

"Nothing important, eh?" one of the boys snickered. "You call this unimportant?" He held up Jack's Bowie knife, dancing the shining metal over his eyes. The leader's deeply sunburned face lit up, and he reached greedily for it. "Mine mine mine! What was a poogly molodoy malchick like you doing with such a horrorshow nozh as this?"

Jack swallowed heavily before answering without a trace of fright, "I'm protecting myself from thieving bastards like you!"

All four boys cracked up at this, and their leader dug his boot even harder into Jack's stomach, making him wince with pain. It felt as if there were shards of scrap metal protruding from the bottom of his shoes. Seeing Jack's strained expression caused the leader's smile to grow even wider. He leaned over Jack, staring directly into his face. "Fat lot of good it did you, then!" His fingers whipped the knife out of its sheath and began to play with its sharp, shining surface. "We are not as bad as all that, oh my brother. Like you, we are only trying to survive."

Jack tried to speak up, to launch some sort of threat at these boys, but the two holding his arms down suddenly increased the pressure on their grip, and he bit back a yelp, deciding immediately it was best not to say anything if he wanted to escape easily. However, the next item in the leader's hands made it hard for him to stay silent.

"Welly welly welly well, what have we here?" the boy asked rhetorically as he unfolded the newspaper article about Jack's father. "This is an Earthly sort of veshch. Why do you carry such a useless veshch like this around with you, my brother?" He began to read the article aloud in a clear, mocking voice. "BRITISH ROCK SENSA-"

"Put that down!" Jack shouted defiantly, forgetting his decision to stay silent. "It's mine! It- it's about my father…"

"Your dear old pee, eh?" the boy said dismissively. "I suppose it's like sentimental for you and all that cal. Well-" His hands tightened on the newspaper article. "How would you like to viddy your dear pee razrezzed to pieces by my bare rookers?" At that, Jack raised his voice to its highest pitch, in a desperate frenzy.

"PUT IT DOWN _NOW! _YOU DON'T NEED IT! IT'S _MINE!"_

"Come viddy this, my brother," the boy holding the knife to Jack's throat cried gleefully. "This malchick is fond of books!" He handed over Jack's pocket Bible, and Jack felt rage and hopelessness stir in him. Why didn't they just leave him alone… The boy's leader took the Bible, flipping carelessly through its pages.

"Another Earthly veshch. Huh," he muttered. "A book about Bog, my brother? Are you like what they call a religious type?"

"Shut up," Jack growled, and then cringed as the two boys behind him let out sudden whoops of triumph. "Viddy what we have here, brother! He has pishcha with him!"

"Pishcha?" the leader said. He tossed the Bible to the ground along with the newspaper article, and Jack felt relief surge through him. Maybe all they wanted was food after all.

As the boys passed the hamburger patties and hot dogs to their leader, who blinked at them in keen interest, Jack tried one more time to free himself. "Listen! You guys can have all my food, and even the Bible if you want." Though he had no idea how he was to procure another one. "Just leave everything else alone! I mean it. Take the food, let me go, and leave the rest of my stuff alone. Please."

The leader's eyes snapped back onto Jack and away from the tempting pleasure of nourishment. "Hm. You value your gloopy sodding book and your old pee's photograph more than pishcha?"

"It is only _burned _pishcha," the boy holding the blade to Jack's throat said.

The leader shrugged. "All right. For now, we let you go." He removed his boot from Jack's chest and the other boys let go of his arms. "There'll not be a bitva today- not like you would win anyway." As soon as the blade was pulled away from his throat, Jack scrambled up to his feet and stooped to collect his precious items, storing them away in his knapsack. Three of the boys began to eat their meaty steals right away, but the leader hung back, watching Jack. The Bowie knife was still clutched tightly in his hand. Jack came forward warily, holding out his hands. "Give me the knife back, please."

"Give it to you?" the boy snorted in contempt. "And have you turn tail on me and my poor droogs?" He sheathed the knife in one quick motion. "You'll not have it, my brother."

"Please," Jack said, taking another step forward. "I won't hurt you… I just need it b-"

Without any sort of warning at all, the leader moved towards Jack, his fist that wasn't holding the knife coming up. Jack automatically raised his arms to block the blow, and was shocked when it was not the leader's fist that connected with his skin, but the sheath of his knife, slamming into the unprotected side of Jack's face. The knife-sheath hit Jack's right eye, sending him staggering back, reeling from the impact and letting out a cry of pain. The other boys looked up to watch the scuffle, and guffawed as their leader tossed Jack's knife at his feet with an expression of scorn.

"Come, my brothers!" he called, and the other boys clambered to their feet. "Out out out! Time to be ittying off now. There are more lewdies about to filly around with." Jack, dazed from the blinding pain in his eye, could only stand bent over clutching the right side of his face and watch through his left eye as the boys gathered together once more, sunlight flashing brightly off of their… Jack blinked. _Skates. _No wonder the leader's boot had hurt his chest so badly. He had been wearing roller skates.

Just before the boys took off, Jack called after them, his voice choked with pain. "W- wait! Who… who are you?" He had to be sure of his enemy before he went back into the city again, though he was doubtful they would tell him anything.

The leader turned back and gave Jack a sarcastic smile. "I am Jagger. These are my droogs. They call us the Diamond Dogs. Be viddying you real soon, oh my brother." And with that parting remark he and his "droogs" were gone, wheeling away on their roller skates. With each stroke of the leg, the wheels on their skates squeaked loudly. Still half-blinded, Jack groaned and sank to his knees.

How was he going to explain _this _to his mother?

The doorknob turned quietly, but she was already turned around and facing the door with the empty package of butter in her hand and an expression of disapproval on her face by the time Jack crawled into the house, his wounded eye still smarting and his heart sunken with shame. At the first sight of his mother, he knew he had been found out. Wearily, Jack dragged himself over to the kitchen table, murmuring, "Hi Mom."

"Jack." Her voice was loaded with disappointment. "Did you use up all of the butter this morning?" She flicked the hollow package onto the table and Jack squinted at it. No use trying to lie now. "Yes." An idea to save face took hold of his tongue. "I got hungry in the middle of the night… I wasn't thinking…"

His mother sighed- she sighed quite often when Jack was around. "Well…" Her fingers drummed the table unconsciously. "At least it was only butter."

"And one slice of bread," Jack couldn't resist adding. His mother sighed again and leaned forward across the table on her elbows, letting her long black hair fall into her face. Her dark eyes peered into Jack's, and a slight frown creased her mouth. "What happened to your eye?"

Jack hadn't seen his eye yet, having not bothered to stop by any reflective surfaces in the city long enough to look. He should have guessed that his mother would notice it. "What's wrong with my eye?"

"It looks like someone socked you right there," Jack's mother said. "How'd that happen?"

Jack, lost for words, could do nothing but shrug. His mother looked as if she was about to say something, but instead of speaking she turned away and strode towards the bathroom. "You better get that all cleaned and bandaged up, Jack. It's gonna hurt like hell in a few moments."

"Okay," Jack said, waiting until his mother was out of the room before ascending the stairs. Once back in his bedroom, Jack deposited his knapsack on the floor and went to the rusty wall mirror to check his appearance. He sucked in a breath as his right eye came into view. The knife-sheath had bruised the skin, giving him a black eye. Jack wondered how long it would take for that to fade.

_I'll have to wear an eyepatch or something, _he thought, envisioning himself with eye makeup resembling his father's. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Jack went over to his dresser and searched through it for a T-shirt suitable for tearing into scraps for an eyepatch. Most of his T-shirts no longer fit properly, but ever since his mother had run out of Earthly currency and become deathly afraid of Hunger City, he had had to make do without new clothes. After finding a plain black T-shirt that he didn't mind sparing, Jack sat down on his bed and unsheathed his knife, running his finger along the dull edge. Visions of the attack by teenagers who spoke in a strange tongue danced through his head, and as Jack ripped his old T-shirt into shreds, he couldn't help wondering who the so-called Diamond Dogs were, what they had really wanted from him, and why their leader, Jagger, had claimed that he would be seeing Jack "real soon."

All in all, it had definitely been a failed shopping trip.


	5. Chapter 5

A mere two days passed before Jack was able to enter the city again. He had to, it was Thursday on the Earthly calendar and therefore shopping day once more. Because of the Diamond Dogs' interference during the last trip, Jack and his mother were running lower on supplies than they had been in quite a while. Jack had detected worry in his mother's tight, tense eyes that he could tell she was trying not to let turn into full-on panic. In order to quell her easily-frayed nerves, he rose early in the morning as usual and, after saying his daily prayer to the sun, practically ran out the door and headed in the direction of Hunger City, after smearing sunblock all over his face. He took care not to disturb the eyepatch that was still placed over his left eye- he hadn't taken it off since Tuesday on the Earthly calendar, for fear of upsetting his poor mother.

As Jack walked the familiar path down to the city, he began to wonder without trying to whether or not those strange Diamond Dogs would show up on his visit. Jagger had subtly threatened him last shopping day- "Be viddying you real soon, oh my brother." The phrase had sent shivers running down Jack's spine, though he hated to admit it. Last time they had damaged his eye- who knew what they would do this time?

_Get a grip on yourself, Jack, _Jack muttered silently to himself. _You're not going to let yourself be seen by those creeps, and besides, you have your knife with you. _To prove his point, he fingered the knife in his knapsack and lifted it out, running its sheath through his fingers. Yes, he had his Bowie knife with him, and if push came to shove with the Diamond Dogs he would be completely prepared to defend himself.

Jack entered Hunger City on quiet feet, keeping to the shadows as usual. This time he didn't bother to stop by the hamburger and hot dog place, in search of more substantial victuals to feed himself and his mother. Instead, Jack traveled over to the drugstore, stopping for a moment to look in its window. The sign on the outside door read CLOSED, as it would for another thirty minutes until its owner arose and opened for business. Jack backed away from the glass and stared up at the painted letters that spelled out the drugstore's name, scratching his head. He was sure that the back door would be locked again. How was he to get inside?

While Jack was pondering, a thin squeaking sound filled the air as a group of four familiar boys wheeled in his direction. Too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice the newcomers, Jack was startled when a clear, rich voice sounded out across the sidewalk. "We meet again, oh my brother! Our threats were not enough to drive you out of the city, eh?"

Jack spun to face the Diamond Dogs, his fingers closing in on the hilt of his knife. For the first time, he could see the faces and bodies of his attackers from last shopping day. Jagger, the leader of the group, stood in front with his arms out, rocking back on the heels of his skates. He had the look of an outdoorsman about him- dark, tan skin and hair bleached so blond it was almost white. While Jagger wore his hair cut short, though a few tendrils still dangled in his face, two of the other boys had hair about as long as Jack's, covering their ears, and the third sported a bristly crewcut. The boy with the crewcut had mahogany red hair, and the two with longer hair were varying shades of brunette. Each boy was dressed similarly- tight black leggings held up by leather belts, to which knives in their sheathes were attached; fur coats (which was odd for the recent warm weather), and of course the roller skates on their feet. As Jagger rolled forward, a smirk etched on his face, Jack drew his knife and held it out at arm's length.

"Don't come any closer. Please." He swallowed and shook the knife for effect. "I'm warning you…"

"Ah, so you are now issuing threats, my brother," Jagger said with a transfixed smile. "I'd have a great smeck at that!" As if on cue, his cronies began to chuckle as a sort of soundtrack. "I viddy that your glazzy had been injured. Was that something _I _did, my brother?" As Jagger approached closer and closer, Jack's muscles bunched and he leapt at the boy. He managed to move quickly enough to shove Jagger's chest hard before Jagger blocked him, zipping backwards on his skates before he had time to become unbalanced. He drew his knife as Jack ran at him again, but Jack ducked as the knife made for him, his hand coming out to grab onto Jagger's wrist and twist it. Although Jack used all his strength in propelling himself to his feet by way of Jagger's arm as a lever, Jagger never once showed any sign of pain. He did, however, lose control of his skates, and with one more ramming from Jack Jagger was sent sprawling to the ground, his feet flying in opposite directions. Before Jagger could push himself to his feet, Jack plunged on top of him and pinned him down, holding the knife at his throat.

"Hey!" one of Jagger's boys called out in disbelief. "It's not right that you should tolchock him like that!" They began to weave forward on squeaking, creaking wheels, but a command from Jagger stopped them. "No need to come like to my defense, my droogs!" His pale gray eyes turned onto Jack with a mixture of defeat and grudging respect gleaming in them. "Taken down by a malenky malchick like yourself. Do me a like favor and let me up, oh my brother."

"No," Jack said with a hint of malice in his voice. "Not until you promise never to attack me again when I come out into the city."

After a second of hesitation, Jagger nodded. "We promise." He turned his head to stare at the other three boys who were still standing frozen a foot away. "Did you slooshy that, oh my brothers? We are never to filly about with this malchick again."

There were a few dissenting grumbles, but eventually the boys agreed to Jack's conditions. "I bet he doesn't even have a bit of pishcha on him today," one of them complained. Jagger looked back up at Jack, who nodded and rolled off of him. Jagger carefully stood up, dusted himself off, and then watched as Jack sheathed his knife. "Tell me, oh brother, what is your eemya or like name?"

"Me?" Jack murmured, not meeting Jagger's eyes. "I'm Jack Stardust."

Jagger dipped his head. "It has indeed been a pleasure to meet you, Jack. What were you doing before my droogs and I arrived on the scene?"

"Trying to break into the drugstore," Jack responded, hitching his thumb in the shop's direction. Jagger turned his head to stare at it, and as he did so Jack noticed that the sign on the inside had ever-so-subtly been switched from CLOSED to OPEN. He swallowed his sigh- it would make him sound like his mother.

"That malenky mesto?" Jagger snorted, turning back towards Jack. He slowly edged his foot to the side, spinning himself around in a small circle. "You can get greater hauls than that, oh my brother."

"None of the other stores have a habit of leaving their back doors unlocked," Jack said pityingly. He wasn't sure why Jagger was still talking to him. Hadn't he and his "droogs" done enough already?

Jagger snickered at Jack's supposed helplessness. "Leaving the back doors unlocked? That's no way to go shop-crasting, my brother." He stuck two fingers in his mouth and gave a whisle, pricking up the ears of the boys behind him. They glided in line to stand at attention beside Jagger, eagerly looking towards him. "What is it, Jagger?"

"Slooshy closely, my brothers!" Jagger called. "This malchick here, our droog Jack, wants to break into the drugstore and crast some supplies. Yet the poor malenky veshch has no idea of how to go about doing so. Shall we show him how a shop-crast is properly done, my droogs?"

The boys' faces lit up with excitement. "Yes!" They rallied around Jagger, who beckoned Jack closer. "Viddy well, molodoy Jack. Viddy and learn." With that, Jagger and the group closed in on each other, and then made off in a pack, their wheels still squeaking loudly. They blew through the door of the drugstore at top speed, and Jack moved up to the window to peer inside as the Diamond Dogs struck. They snatched items off the shelves as they went through the store, and its owner, the only other person inside, jumped out from behind the counter with a gun. The Diamond Dogs, however, were quicker than the shopowner, and Jagger struck him in such a way that the gun fell clattering to the floor and he went staggering backwards. Another boy gave him a shove on the head to send him crashing against the wall, where he slumped to the ground. Triumphant, the Diamond Dogs emerged from the store, their arms overflowing with supplies, and let out whoops of joy.

"Out out out!" Jagger barked. "This means you as well, brother Jack! 'Tis not too horrorshow to let ourselves like be loveted!" And Jack peeled himself away from the glass and began to run to keep up with Jagger and the rest, the squeaky wheels leaving marks on the asphalt all the way.

"Now that," Jagger said as he handed over a chocolate bar to Jack, "is how a shop-crast is _really _done, oh my brother and faithful droog." Jack smiled as he unwrapped the chocolate bar and bit into it, surprised at how quickly he had gotten on Jagger's good graces. After running for the hills and the shadows, the Diamond Dogs had unloaded their supplies on Jack and Jagger took the personal task of introducing each boy to Jack, one by one.

"You already know me as Jagger, brother Jack," Jagger had addressed Jack. He pointed to the boy with a red crewcut. "This fine malchick is Sledge, my like right rooker veck. Those two malchicks-" He gestured to the long-haired brunettes, who had already begun to rip into their candy bars- "are Day-viddy-widdy and No Dice Bryce. You can call them Widdy and Dice." Hearing their names, the boys looked up and grinned with their mouths full.

Now sitting together counting their spoils, Jagger scuffed the earth with his foot and wagged his finger at the sight of Hunger City down below the hill. "Now that you are with us, droogie, you will need a nickname. All of us Diamond Dogs have nicknames."

"Hm," Jack said, swallowing his bite of chocolate. "I can't think of anything."

"That glazzy-patch of yours looks real horrorshow," Jagger said, resting his hands on his knees and gazing sideways at Jack. "A real horrorshow look for brother Jack." He suddenly slapped his hands together as if a great thought had just occurred to him. "I have it! From now on, my brother, we shall know you as Hallowe'en Jack. How does that sound to you?"

Jack shrugged, not sure what was meant by the "Hallowe'en" prefix. "I guess it has a ring to it."

"Good good good!" Jagger cried, punching Jack good-naturedly in the shoulder. "Hallowe'en Jack. Slooshy closely, oh my brothers!" he called, raising his voice so that the rest of the Diamond Dogs took notice of the conversation. "Our droog Jack has become one of us! From now on, he will be known as Hallowe'en Jack!"

The news was met with cheers, surprising Jack greatly. "Just a few moments ago you guys were planning to beat me up. Why are you now calling yourselves my friends?"

"We weren't going to vred you, droogie," Sledge spoke up. "We just wanted to filly with you a bit. Yesterday we only attacked because we had never viddied you before and we thought you might have some polezny veshches or a bit of pishcha with you."

"Today, and from every day forward, we are like your droogs," Jagger said. "You are a Diamond Dog now, Hallowe'en Jack. We will teach you the new way of life. If you stick around with us, we will teach you all there is to know about shop-crasting and much, much more."

"Will you teach me how to skate?" Jack asked, and Jagger laughed. "Of course, Hallowe'en Jack. But you will have to get skates first!"

The other Diamond Dogs giggled a bit at this, and Jack nodded, looking down at the ground. Jagger nudged him lightly. "Where do you live, oh my brother?"

"Right out there," Jack said, pointing out past the city to a few widely-spread-out buildings in the distance. "I live on top of the Manhattan Chase building. That's what we call it, anyway- my mother and I. We live all by ourselves. It's just us."

"I viddy," Jagger said, nodding. "You and your em. Your pee is gone?"

"Yes," Jack said. "He was killed on planet Earth."

"Appy polly loggies," Jagger said. "I did not know, my brother."

"It's okay," Jack said, running his hands over the grass beneath his body, the only grass he had ever seen in his life. "Tell me something, Jagger. What's the language that you and your friends have been using? I don't understand it when you talk like that."

Jagger snapped his head over to stare abruptly at Jack. "You have never heard of nadsat-talk, oh my brother? It is the language of Bog!" At the word "Bog," Sledge, Widdy, and Dice perked up, staring over at Jagger and Jack with grins on their faces. "Yes!" Widdy cried. "We govoreet the language of Bog!"

"Bog and All His Holy Angels," Jagger clarified, a large smile spreading out over his face as his eyes glazed over. "It is the language of like rock and roll. It is the language of our Savior. It is the language of-"

"Aladdin Sane," the four boys chorused at once in hushed voices, speaking the name as if it were a kind of magic. Jagger patted Jack warmly on the shoulder.

"Now that you are a Diamond Dog like us, Hallowe'en Jack, you have to learn to govoreet nadsat-talk just as horrorshow as we do. You will renounce like the Christian religion and pledge your jeezny to Bog, only Bog. You will meet up with us regularly, when you aren't back at your domy with your old em. In return, we Diamond Dogs will protect you with our jeeznies. We will share our spoils from shop-crasting with you and your em. We will take you to the wildest concerts where you can viddy Bog and His Angels with your own dva glazzies. If you do not agree, we will not honor your wishes, and we will attack you whenever you come out to this city again. Does this sound like a deal to you, oh my brother and droog Hallowe'en Jack?"

Jack had to think on the offer for a bit before making his decision. On the one hand, it would be great to have some form of protection in this dangerous city, protection that could also serve as a way of getting supplies. The Diamond Dogs didn't seem nearly as bad now as they had two days ago. Jack understood that what they had said was true- they were only trying to survive.

On the other hand, though, Jack wasn't sure if giving up his religion was worth the extra help from the Diamond Dogs. He secretly valued his belief in God only second to his love for his mother. This "Bog" that Jagger spoke of sounded less like a God to Jack and more along the lines of a Devil. Until he learned more, Jack felt unable to devote himself to this new religion.

But then again… Jack stared out over the faces of the Diamond Dogs, who were still waiting for his answer. Then again, if Jack refused to agree to Jagger's offer, the Diamond Dogs would forget everything they had said about him being their "droog" and go back to how they were on the first day- jumping him and beating him up in order to get more supplies for themselves. Jack felt that now that the Diamond Dogs knew he existed, there was no way he could go back to hiding in the shadows. They would find him and track him down no matter where he went. And it wasn't even an option to consider never going back into Hunger City again. It may not have been the safest place in the world to go for supplies, but for Jack and his mother, it was the only place available to them.

"Well, brother?" Jagger said, prompting Jack out of his thoughts. "We are waiting, Hallowe'en Jack. What have you chosen to do?"

"I… I choose to become a Diamond Dog like you guys," Jack said at last, offering a small, lopsided smile at his new friends. The Diamond Dogs burst into cheers in response, and Jagger clapped Jack on the back.

"You have made a horrorshow choice, droogie!" he cried. "We shall celebrate!" With that, he and the other boys leapt to their feet and began skating on the rough grass in circles, lifting their voices into the same song. Jack was surprised that they all knew what to sing, and even more surprised with the song. It had no words that he could understand- a few here and there were obviously from nadsat-talk, but the majority of the song was a screeching, wordless whine that all the boys seemed to know by heart. The eerie sound made hairs stand up on Jack's arms. He stood up and began collecting his supplies as the song dwindled to a close and the Diamond Dogs, who had joined hands and begun skating in one wide circle together, split apart and sped back over to him.

"Where are going with all that pishcha, oh my brother?" Dice called out. "Come with us now!"

Jack shook his head. "It's been great meeting you again, but I really can't. My mother is expecting me at home." There were a few disappointed groans as Jack loaded up his knapsack with food, staring up towards the sunny sky all the while. What he saw made him almost want to groan himself. Judging from the position of the sun, it was past time for his mother to have wakened. And when she discovered that Jack was gone- come to think of it, she probably already had discovered that- she would be frantic. It tore at Jack's heartstrings to imagine his mother confused and frightened, wondering what the hell could have happened to her poor son.

"Thanks for helping me with the… shop-crast," Jack said as he trudged down the hill, turning around to watch the faces of his new friends. "I'll see you next Tuesday!"

"Goodbye, Hallowe'en Jack!" the Diamond Dogs chorused, and Jagger waved. "See you later, oh my brother! We will show you veshches the likes of which you have never viddied. Until we like meet again!"


	6. Chapter 6

In the days that followed, Jack grew to become well-acquainted with each Diamond Dog and with the inner workings of the great Hunger City. Together, the Diamond Dogs taught Jack how to properly pull off break-in's and how to walk the streets unnoticed by civilians. Jack quickly learned that the Dogs were much-talked about in town, in concealed whispers of fear and worry- _"will they come for us?" _It appeared that the Diamond Dogs and other gangs like them were the main source of Jack's mother's stories of "dangerous, bad city people." However, when Jack expressed his worries about identifying himself with the enemy, the Diamond Dogs shrugged his fears off. They laughed and explained that they were proud of their bad reputation.

"It's not just us malchicks that the lewdies consider bad, Hallowe'en Jack," Sledge took the time to tell Jack one day. "There are like millions of us out in the city. The starrier lewdies thinks that all nadsats are evil because we are so molodoy. If they themselves did what we have to do to survive, they wouldn't think down upon us."

"Yeah," Widdy chimed in, skating alongside Jack from the opposite side. "There are no like honest businesses in this city anymore. The only way to get by is to crast what we need. The shops want us to kupet their wares, but none of us have any fair cutter to get by on, oh my brother. Thusly, we break in and crast their supplies, and the owners have no right to complain."

Jagger, who was skating ahead of the other Diamond Dogs, now spun around and began skating backwards in order to speak to Jack. "We are not the only Diamond Dogs in this city, Hallowe'en Jack. That is what the starry lewdies call the nadsats. They are spoogy of us because we are not spoogy of them."

"So the nadsats are teenagers?" Jack said, still not completely fluent in the language that the Diamond Dogs used.

Jagger nodded. "Yes yes. You and I are both nadsats, my brother. We call our language nadsat-talk because we are the only ones who use it. Us and the great Bog Himself."

"Aladdin Sane," Dice, Widdy, and Sledge spoke in unison. Jack made a mental note to ask who this Aladdin Sane was later.

"I pony," he said, nodding. Jagger smiled. "You are picking up nadsat-talk quite horrorshow, Hallowe'en Jack. Soon it will be time for you to come litso to listo with Bog and All His Holy Angels."

"It is impossible to believe in Bog, oh my brother, until you have viddied Him yourself and slooshied His lovely, lovely music," Widdy said, his voice taking on a tone of deep reverence.

Jack nodded again. "I can't wait, my brothers." He wondered what exactly this Bog looked like, and why it was that the Diamond Dogs worshipped Him so much.

Soon every day became shopping day. The Diamond Dogs broke into supermarkets and drugstores on squeaking wheels, Jack running along beside them. The shopkeepers and whoever was up shopping this early always gave the same scream of "The Diamond Dogs are here!" Though Jack had to admit that this was the best way of taking the supplies he needed, he hated having to give innocent people such a fright. He always left it up to Jagger or another one of the boys to take care of the shopkeeper, greatly disliking partaking in violence. Though Jack had carried his Bowie knife in his knapsack with him since day one, the first shopping day, he rarely got the chance to use it, and never looked forward to the slim moments when he did.

One day, after a particularly close getaway where Jack had almost been snatched by the shopkeeper who wasn't quite unconscious, Jagger fell behind the group of boys to skate slowly next to Jack. "Hallowe'en Jack, it has come to this. You need a pair of skates."

"Do you know of any I can crast, oh my brother?" Jack asked, slipping his knife back into its sheath. His heart was still pounding from the quick escape.

Jagger shook his head. "They do not sell such veshches in Hunger City anymore. You must make your own, my brother, or have me make you a pair."

"It would be horrorshow for you to make me some," Jack said. "Kindly like."

Jagger chuckled. "I promise I will, oh my brother." He spun around in a circle, and the squeaky, creaky wheels on his skates reminded Jack of a question he had wanted to ask. "Doesn't the sound of the wheels make it easier for you to get loveted by the shopkeepers, Jagger, my brother?"

Jagger swerved in front of him, and Jack in turn moved to avoid knocking into him. "Ah, Hallowe'en Jack, you don't pony the skates at all!" He beamed condescendingly at Jack, though not in a cruel way. "Once you have your own pair, you will pony how they work."

That afternoon Jack went home from the city without his favorite sneakers. Jagger had taken them with him in order to make a good pair of skates that would fit Jack. Jack's mother raised her eyebrows at the sight of his bare feet, but she had already learned not to say anything. No matter how battered-looking Jack was when he came home, or how strange his vocabulary grew, he almost always had food and drink with him, for which his mother was forever grateful. As long as Jack came home alive every day and brought necessary supplies with him, it didn't matter where he'd been or what he had done. For all Jack's mother knew, he had gotten a job in the city and was making steady money. She told herself this lie every night in order to sleep easier.

One afternoon, Jack brought home a bottle of wine, glowing with pride. He had made an effort to steal it after noticing the way his mother's eyes always filled with disappointment after presenting the drinks he had gotten in Hunger City- always water and a few sodas, never anything stronger. He had guessed at exactly what it was his mother wanted, and made it his personal duty to find a bottle of wine or another drink for her. The Diamond Dogs had refused to assist Jack on his endeavor, saying that they might not have many standards, but underage drinking was one thing they wouldn't go for. Though Jack had made a point to tell his friends that the wine wasn't for himself, none of the boys believed him. Even without his fellow Diamond Dogs, the break-in was pulled off beautifully, and Jack received showers of praise from his friends, who regretted not joining in. Now Jack presented the bottle of wine to his mother, and felt a warmth spread through his veins and his soul as her eyes lit up and she took the bottle out of his hands.

Jack's mother was indisposed for the rest of the day, as she slowly consumed the entirety of the bottle. Jack became acquainted with a sight he had never seen before- his mother, drunk and raving. "What are we doing here, Jackie?" she asked him, staring out the window with the half-empty bottle clutched tightly in her hand. "What are we doing here? What is _anyone _doing here?"

Jack, sweeping the kitchen area, thought it best not to say anything in response. His mother grew frustrated with the silence. Taking a swig from her bottle, she swung around to face Jack. "Why won't you listen to me? I'm your mother, Jack. Why aren't you listening to me?"

"I am slooshying to you, Mom," Jack said carefully. "You asked why we were here."

"Well, why are we?" Jack's mother stalked over to the kitchen and grabbed the broom out of his hand. "Why are we on this fucking planet, Jackie? I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home."

"Appy polly loggies, Mom," Jack said, hating himself for saying it but knowing it had to be said. He gently took the broom back. "Earth has snuffed it. You told me yourself. Everyone here is alive. Stay with me."

She cursed and moved away, taking another sip from the bottle. "What are we doing here, Jackie? What are we doing? _What are we doing?!"_

Eventually Jack managed to calm his mother down and lead her into her bedroom, where he tucked her into bed. "Sleep, Mom. Get some spatchka. I'll viddy you in the morning." He held her hand until his mother was asleep, the now-empty bottle at her bedside.

Later that night, Jack removed the eyepatch which he had worn for fashion ever since the day he first met the Diamond Dogs, and climbed into bed with the newspaper article about his father clutched in his hand. Moonlight filtered in through the window and touched the old, yellowing paper as Jack spread it out over his covers to read the familiar words, words that he had memorized long ago.

BRITISH ROCK SENSATION ZIGGY STARDUST MURDERED IN SUFFRAGETTE CITY

_The famous musician Ziggy Stardust, who has taken the world by storm ever since late August with such popular singles as 'Starman' and 'Changes,' was murdered yesterday onstage in Suffragette City, New York, by three unidentified attackers._

_Eyewitnesses report that the attackers were posing as band members, wearing black attire and black face masks. The real band, the Spiders From Mars, were found tied up backstage, and claimed to have been beaten by three "faceless" men. According to concertgoers, the three people onstage waited for the end of Stardust's opening song, "Space Oddity," before approaching him and stabbing him with knives. None of the murderers have been turned in yet._

_Stardust's body was taken to the local hospital by an unnamed individual, where examinations revealed that the musician had been stabbed a total of twenty-three times, reminiscent of the Roman leader Julius Caesar. No motives have been identified. "Ziggy was well-loved by everyone," Mick Weird, the keyboardist from the Spiders From Mars, told press shortly after hearing the news of his death. "I can't imagine who would want to kill him." Reports from the hospital stated that Stardust's body was stabbed in numerous places, including the heart._

_The Suffragette City police force are conducting a search for the three murderers throughout and around Suffragette City. No eyewitnesses have been able to properly identify any suspects or give any adequate descriptions. "It's a mystery," Chief of Police Daniel McCutcheon told the press early this morning. "All we know regarding the killers is that there were three of them. We can't even tell if they were male or female."_

Slowly, Jack folded the newspaper back up and set it on the floor by his bed, stretching out beneath the covers. He began to think of his father, the man he had never known. Now that he was older, he understood that he had been the product of a one-night-stand, nothing more. Jack was proud of his mother for staying strong enough to give birth to him, though she hadn't been expecting to get pregnant and the father was dead. He had once asked her why she hadn't gotten an abortion.

"I was specifically told not to by a friend," Jack's mother had said tightly. "He was convinced that any offspring of your father has a right to live_._" She ruffled Jack's hair fondly, but with a tension in her hand. "Of course he was right, Jack. Everyone deserves a chance at life."

"Why did you sleep with my father in the first place?" Jack had asked.

She let out one of her famous sighs. "I was messed up. I'd just broken up with my boyfriend and… well, there were a lot of complicated things that I couldn't explain to myself. Whatever the reason, I'm glad now that I did, because I wouldn't have you here with me." She smiled happily at Jack, though her eyes were still reliving the long-ago, painful past. "You're one of the few things that keep me sane in this life, kid."

Reminiscing on not-so-long-ago memories that were as clear as day to Jack- he could still hear and see his mother exactly as she had been that day- Jack slid his hands beneath his head on the cool pillow, knotting them into his thick black hair. He was just about to close his eyes and submit to sleep when a new memory hit him, a far more disturbing memory and one that didn't feel familiar, and yet was completely crystal-clear like the rest. Yellow fog was clouding the inside of the house, seeping into his lungs, poisoning him, feeling like pins and needles scratching into his throat and lungs… and she held him tightly in her arms, spitting out the words between coughs- "Oh, God, I love you, Jack, I'm sorry, I love you, Jack, I love you…"

Jack sat bolt upright with a start as a cry from downstairs broke him free of his wild delusion. His heart was beating out of control, and it took him a moment to remember where he was. The cry sounded from downstairs again, and Jack's mind relaxed, though his body did not- his mother was having a bad dream, as she occasionally did, just like Jack. At first when Jack had heard these cries coming from downstairs, he had gotten up to calm and comfort his mother without waking her up. It had always been his theory that to wake one from their nightmare did more damage than letting them sleep did; they would never get the chance to face that part of their psyche that they might have hidden far below the surface. After a while, Jack had stopped going downstairs, having grown used to his mother's dreams. He could usually sleep through her pained-sounding cries.

Now that Jack had had his own bad dream, however, the shadows in his room that were usually a comfort to him were starting to give him the creeps. Goosebumps stood up on his arms, and he was acutely aware of each sharp breath pulled in through his lungs. He fluidly swung his legs over the side of the bed and dragged the blanket off, wrapping it around his shoulders. Then Jack slipped out of his bedroom and traveled down the winding staircase to the first floor, where he entered his mother's bedroom. She was twitching in her sleep, a deep frown on her face. Quietly, Jack pulled up a chair and sat down beside his mother, patting her hand gently. "It's okay, Mom," he murmured, eschewing his nadsat-talk words for a moment. "I'm here now. You're okay, I'm okay, we're alive and everything is going to be all right." As Jack watched, his mother seemed to grow calmer in her sleep, as if she could feel his presence. Haunted by his own words, Jack drew back and curled up in his chair to wait out the night asleep.

When Jack's mother awoke and found the empty bottle by her bedside and felt the effects of a hangover, she cried to herself for a while before Jack woke up. Jack was asleep in a chair next to her, and she assumed that he must have brought her to bed and watched over her all night. "I'm sorry," she whispered tearfully to her sleeping son. "I'm sorry for being such a bad mom. This will never happen again."

The following day, Jack was presented triumphantly with a gift from Jagger- a pair of homemade roller skates. Jagger beamed as Jack tried them on. "How do you like them, Hallowe'en Jack? Are they horrorshow enough for you?"

"I- I think so," Jack said, taking an awkward step forward. Jagger laughed and swooped in to grab hold of Jack's arm. "You will get like the hang of it, oh my brother. Let me show you how it is done." They spent the day together out on the streets, the Diamond Dogs teaching Jack how to roller skate and Jack watching and listening attentively. He wobbled quite a lot on his skates and executed more than a few crash landings, but the boys told him it was all part of the experience. "I myself had a hard time learning to skate, my brother," Dice told Jack as he picked himself up from his most recent collision. "So did Day-viddy, and so did Sledge, and even Jagger will admit that he was not like born with skates on his nogas."

Jagger snorted, in the middle of a large figure-eight pattern. "Let us not govoreet about that, oh my brother. What is important now is that all of us did learn to skate eventually. You will get the hang of it, Hallowe'en Jack!"

"I sure hope so, my brother," Jack muttered, clumsily making his way towards Jagger on his skates.

Despite Jack's initial ineptness, he managed to "get the hang of" skating in a few weeks. The Diamond Dogs were proud when he announced that he was ready to pull off a break-in on skates for the first time. The break-in was successful, as always, and as Jack skated off alongside his friends he marveled at how the obnoxiously squeaky wheels on the skates, which at first had appeared to pose a problem as they alerted others to the presence of the Diamond Dogs, were barely noticeable to him now. The Diamond Dogs skated in sync, their bodies swaying in the same directions, and each squeak of the wheel was shared by the next person. They skated so close together that Jack felt sheltered in his little pack of friends, bodies pressed close together, inhaling and exhaling at the same time and pushing on their skates all at once. He was tremendously sorry when the excursion was over.

"Have skates, will travel," Dice winked at Jack, and he couldn't agree more.

Arriving at Hunger City became less of a chore now that Jack could skate down the long, winding asphalt road to the city instead of walking. He practiced skating backwards as he went- it was a talent that Jagger had mastered with unique skill, and Jack was somewhat jealous of his abilities. He turned around as he neared the city, prepared to climb over the hill that separated him from his friends. As Jack started up the hill, he became aware of a figure moving about at the top. By shielding his eyes from the light, Jack could make out the shape of a large, heavyset gray dog, closely resembling the one he had seen on the day he was first attacked by the Diamond Dogs and given a black eye. The closer Jack came to it, the more it stared, not transfixed, but calculating. Its eyes glittered with an almost-sentience that disturbed Jack. This dog was not afraid of him. In fact, it was watching… waiting for him to make some kind of move.

Jack almost turned around and went back down the hill, but he bit his lip and forced himself to go on, heading towards the dog. _It's only an animal, Hallowe'en Jack. What are you getting all poogly for? _

Suddenly, as Jack inched closer to the top of the hill, the dog snapped into a defensive position and growled, showing its teeth. As if that had been a cue, several identical dogs appeared from the other side of the hill, all snarling as well. Jack stopped dead, fearful of those sharp white teeth all of a sudden, and in one movement the dogs bounded down the hill towards him, unleashing loud, throaty barks that sent shivers rocking through Jack's core. Without thinking, he prepared to skate backwards, but he was on a hill- if he tried to move backwards he would probably fall. The dogs were heading straight towards him, yapping and howling loudly. Frantically, Jack turned around and ran falteringly down the hill, his speed hindered by his skates. If the hill had been barren, he could have soared down on his wheels, but the grass greatly slowed down his momentum. _Out out out! _His mind screamed to him. _Move skorrily, Hallowe'en Jack! _He gulped, sure that he could feel the hot breath of those dogs on his ankles…

But just as Jack was convinced the dogs would move in for the kill, he was taken by surprise as they parted ways around him and ran, as if they themselves were fleeing for their lives. Seconds later, a vision in black flew past Jack at top speed, chasing the dogs away. Jack slowed down and made it safely to the bottom of the hill, watching as the unknown person herded the dogs along before slowing to a stop on the asphalt road. The dogs continued to run, down the path that would take them to Jack's house. He groaned, hoping they would tire of running halfway to the end of the road, and placed his hand over his heart, trying to calm down its wild pumping.

The unknown person who had quite possibly saved Jack's life didn't wait to catch his breath. He spun around on his heel and made his way back up the road towards Jack, his body full of liquid grace. _Wow, _Jack thought, forgetting his shortness of breath for a moment to stare impressed at his savior. This person was an excellent skater, even better than Jagger was.

"Are you all right?" the person called out, and Jack blinked, his impress dissolving into surprise. _She's a girl! _There was no word in nadsat-talk that Jack knew of for "girl." He racked his brains as she approached him, stopping short in front of him just a foot away.

"I said, are you all right?" the girl demanded, and Jack nodded, blinking again. _Wow! _Not only had his savior turned out to be a girl, but she was young- she couldn't have been more than Jack's age. The breeze ruffled her fluffy brown hair, cut above her shoulders, as she stood with one foot out, peering intensely at Jack.

When Jack realized that she was waiting for him to say something, he fumbled with his words. "Hello…" What was it that the Diamond Dogs called female shopkeepers? "…fair devotchka." That was it! Jack could hear Jagger's voice coming back to him as clear as day, mocking a woman before he knocked her out- _"An excellent shop you run here, fair devotchka!" _This girl was a "devotchka," slim and gorgeous and decked from head to toe in black. Past her black leggings was a pair of pristine white roller skates, the kind that were sold in stores. Jack blurted at once, "You have real skates!"

The girl's eyes glittered with amusement, though the rest of her expression remained severe. "And you, I see, have cheap homemade ones."

"They're real horrorshow," Jack defended his skates. "My droog Jagger made them for me, oh my-" He caught himself before he said "brother." This girl was not a brother. What he was to address her with, however, was a mystery.

"Not half-bad," the girl said, shrugging her black leather shoulders. "What's your name?"

"I go by Hallowe'en Jack, fair devotchka," Jack told her. "And what is your eemya?"

Giving him a strange look, the girl answered, "I'm Kylie. Is there-" Her tone turned coy. "Is there anything you have to say to me, 'Hallowe'en Jack?'"

In a flash, it hit Jack- this girl had saved his life. She deserved a word of thanks. Flushing red, and trying not to show his embarrassment, Jack said, "Of course. Thank you for saving me from those vonny dogs, Kylie."

He could see her struggling not to smirk outright at him. "Why, you're ever so welcome. I was only trying to drive them away from me. I've seen those dogs around often, and they're bloodthirsty little creatures. They must be getting hungry like everyone else in this city- hungry enough to kill." Her tone turned reprimanding. "You should have been carrying a weapon with you. You'll need to defend yourself if they attack you again- can't rely on me to miraculously show up all the time."

Before Jack could point out that he did indeed have a blade with him, Kylie turned and headed out towards the road, and Jack automatically followed her, trailing behind. He was fascinated with this young woman, the likes of which he had never seen before. The only women that Jack had ever interacted with had been his mother and the middle-aged shopkeepers, up until now. Here was a girl who was roughly the same age as Jack, and he was desperate to know where she had come from.

"Where did you get such horrorshow skates from, Kylie?" Jack asked as he sped along to catch up with her. She was skating above a walking pace, her hands behind her back. Kylie didn't turn her head to look when Jack settled in beside her, but a smile played at the corners of her mouth. "I bought them with my own money just last year. That was before the demand for skates ran rampant and the stores sold out, and my feet haven't grown much since then."

"And how are you able to skate on grassy surfaces?" Jack asked. Kylie brought her arms up to her sides, clenching her hands into fists. "They're all-terrain skates," she answered with a touch of pride in her voice. "Figured they'd be useful some day or another." She tossed her head and let the playful smile take over her face. "They're also made to last much longer than yours."

Jack wanted to retort that his skates were no worse than Kylie's, but he couldn't believe the lie himself. Instead of saying anything, Jack nodded reverently, and kept a close eye on Kylie as she skated beside him. For the first time, he became aware of a sound- or rather, lack of a sound. Though Jack's skate wheels squeaked like there was no tomorrow, just as all the Diamond Dogs' skate wheels did, Kylie's were silent when in motion. The only sound her roller skates made was the gritty sound of wheels pushing against asphalt.

"I hope I'm not being rude by asking this," Kylie said as Hunger City loomed closer and closer, "but what planet are you from, Hallowe'en Jack?"

"Oh, you can just call me Jack," Jack mumbled, not sure why he'd introduced himself as a Diamond Dog rather than himself. "I'm from Earth like everyone else."

"Not like everyone else," Kylie said, slowing her pace. "There are a few non-humans in this city, like those dogs for example."

"The dogs?" Jack stated, confused. "But the dogs are only… dogs. There were dogs on Earth, weren't there?"

"So we've been told," Kylie said. "But they couldn't have come from Earth. The only species saved on Earth were humans." She suddenly glanced over at Jack, seeming to see him for the first time. "I'm sorry if that was a stupid question… You don't really look like a human. I mean, I've never seen someone with skin as light as yours…" She trailed off as Jack suddenly slapped his forehead. "Oh, dammit! I need to put on sunscreen!" He halted in the middle of the road and slipped his knapsack off, pulling out a newly-stolen tube of sunscreen from last shopping day.

Kylie hovered nearby, skating in a circle around Jack. "Really, I'm sorry if I offended you… it was on honest mistake…"

"I forgive you, Kylie, fair devotchka," Jack said, smearing gobs of sunscreen across his face. "It wasn't a gloopy question." Privately, Jack began to wonder what exactly the other non-humans on this planet were like. He had heard from his mother that there were others, but Hunger City was an Earth-based civilization, and Jack hadn't expected there to be any other beings living in it.

"Gloopy?" Kylie said, skidding to a stop in front of Jack. "The only gloopy thing around here is your sunblock." Jack looked up to meet Kylie's eyes, and found humor sparking in them, her lips fighting to hold back a smile. Jack offered a small grin of his own back, even though he was dazzled by those eyes. Dark and brown, Kylie's orbs held a mysterious wisdom that seemed to go beyond her teenage years. The expression her eyes conveyed was one of deep knowledge and understanding of the ways of the world.

Then Kylie blinked and pulled away from Jack, and he realized too late that he'd been caught staring. He hastily tried to apologize for himself. "Appy polly loggies, Kylie… I didn't mean to be like staring improperly…"

Kylie waved away the apology. "Aw, it's okay. Staring 'improperly' would be staring at these." She placed her hands over her breasts and laughed as Jack glanced over, and then quickly tried to avert his eyes. "It's okay, really it is! I get stares and a lot worse from the other boys in town. But you don't seem that bad." She skated away as Jack shrugged his knapsack off and slipped his tube of sunblock into it, still racking his brains for something to say. "Are you ready to go on now?"

"Yes, thank you, Kylie, fair devotchka," Jack mumbled, slinging the knapsack over his arm and following after her. His mind ran rampant with thoughts- _She's gorgeous. She really is. I want her to be my droog. But if she finds out that I'm a "bad city person," that I'm one of those malchicks who stare at her groodies and make grazhny comments, would she still want to govoreet with me? _Jack had never before been in such a situation, where he wanted someone to like him so badly that he would try anything to make them stay. And yes, he realized immediately, he would try anything to keep Kylie in his company. She was a fascinating young woman whom he wanted to hold a conversation with, and it would be sorry to lose that.

"What's that language you keep using?" Kylie asked as they skated down sidewalks, keeping to the shadows. Hunger City was just starting to wake up, shopkeepers cautiously changing their signs from CLOSED to OPEN. Jack glanced towards Kylie, and their eyes met as she continued, "It sounds like some alien language, to tell the truth. I think I've heard it being used before, but not by humans."

"It is nadsat-talk, fair devotchka," Jack responded. "All the nadsats, that is teenagers, that I know of use it. It is the language of our God or Bog." Although he still had no idea what kind of a being this so-called Bog was.

"God…" Kylie repeated thoughtfully, and then suddenly gave a little start. She grabbed Jack's arm, pulling him closer to her, her wild eyes peering shocked into his face. "You're… You're one of the Diamond Dogs!"

Jack felt his heart plummet- his cover was blown. She had figured out who he was. "Yes, I am, Kylie," he said with a note of disappointment in his voice. _And it was going so well… _"What have you slooshied, or heard, about the Diamond Dogs?"

' Kylie shrugged her shoulders. "Not a lot. Everyone says that the Diamond Dogs are bad news. I've been hearing about you guys ever since I was little, actually. There are even nursery rhymes and such about you." She suddenly cracked a grin, staring sideways into Jack's eyes. "'_You better lock up your kids and your wife, because the Diamond Dogs are coming to get you tonight. Crawling down the alley on your hands and knees, I'm sure you're not protected, for it's plain to see, that the Diamond Dogs are poachers and they hide behind trees. Hunt you to the ground they will- mannequins with kill appeal."_

The rhyme caused the familiar prickling sensation of hairs standing up on Jack's arms. He'd known that the Diamond Dogs were considered to be evil by the general population of Hunger City, but he had no idea that they'd become such a legend. Then a slight thought crossed his mind, and he released his arm from Kylie's grip, gazing down at her.

"How can you have heard such rhymes when you were a malenky devotchka, Kylie?" Jack questioned her. "Us Diamond Dogs are all nadsats. We can't be any older than you are."

"I don't know," Kylie said, "but I've heard adults warning people of the Diamond Dogs ever since my family came to this planet, when I was three years old. Apparently gang crime set in quickly, with everyone scrambling for the supplies they needed, and now we live in fear of the teenagers who will steal all of our necessary items. Maybe the first Diamond Dogs were the people who were already teenagers when Earth was saved, liked my mother and father." She frowned and corrected herself. "I mean, my parents were in their twenties when we came to this planet. Am I boring you?" she asked quickly, searching Jack's eyes for signs of approval. "I'm sorry, I get carried away when I talk about history… I just think it's fascinating, the way that we were brought from the dying Earth to start a new civilization on this planet all to ourselves. My father has educated me all about Earth and his experiences…"

"You are not boring me, Kylie," Jack assured her. "I myself haven't slooshied very much about how this planet was founded. My em- that is, my mother- doesn't govoreet about it often."

As they skated through an alley, and Jack waited on Kylie's response, a raucous cry broke the air. "Welly welly welly well, viddy who's finally here!" The familiar shapes of Jagger, Widdy, Dice, and Sledge glided out of the shadows on skates that seemed suddenly noisy in comparison to Kylie's sleek, silent ones. Once the boys caught sight of Kylie, Widdy and Dice let out wolf whistles and Jagger's mouth twisted into a cruel and stupefying smile. "Ahhh, I viddy now what took you so long. Hallowe'en Jack has brought a devotchka here for all of us!" The other three boys cheered, and Jack felt shame wash over him. He wouldn't dare to look at Kylie. Jagger stalked towards her, assessing her value. "Hm. Seems a real horrorshow type. Enough for all of us to give the old in-out-in-out to, eh?" He turned back to his friends, who nodded eagerly in response, their gazes filling with lust. Jack had never heard the nadsat-talk word "in-out-in-out" before, but he could, with horror, easily guess what it meant. What had he done by bringing Kylie into this situation? He opened his mouth to tell the boys off and inform them that they couldn't touch her, but to his surprise it was Kylie who spoke first.

"You'll not be giving me the old in-out-in-out anytime soon, brothers," she said, her voice harsh and brittle and yet giving nothing away. "I am just a droog of Jack's who saved him his life from a vonny dog pack. I was planning on going away as soon as he got into the city safely."

Impressed, and yet still afraid for her safety, Jack elbowed Kylie lightly in the ribs. _What are you doing? _He thought, wishing he could transmit his question to her telepathically. _Why are you using nadsat-talk? You're not one of us. You need to get out of here!_

"Hm," Jagger snorted, not buying the act. "You put on a good show, devotchka, but I can viddy that you are not a Diamond Dog like us. Now that Jack has brought you here, we can do whatever we please with you."

He moved closer, and before Kylie could say anything Jack cried out in protest. "Stop it, brother! Don't lay a rooker on her!"

Jagger froze and stared down at Jack, his gray eyes smoldering. Jack could tell that he was both confused and angry as to why Jack would try to disrespect his authority. "What are you govoreeting about, my brother Hallowe'en Jack?"

"Don't touch her, brother," Jack pleaded. "What Kylie says is true. I met her on my way to the city, where I was like attacked by a bunch of dogs. She drove them away and saved my jeezny, oh my brother. I did not think of using her for anything other than a partner to like govoreet with. If she does not want the old in-out-in-out, do not force it on her."

There were a few disappointed sighs coming from Sledge, Widdy, and Dice, but Jagger remained silent, mulling over everything Jack had said without taking his fixed gaze away from Jack's face for an instant. Finally he said, "I pony how it is going to be, oh my brother Hallowe'en Jack. You want this devotchka all to like yourself."

"No, it's not that at all!" Jack cried, anger rising in him. "I don't know Kylie any better than you do, my brother! I just don't think it's fair for you to do what you please with her when she herself might not want it."

"I don't want it," Kylie interjected. "I… I think it would be best if I left now. Goodbye, Jack." She turned tail and skated away from the Diamond Dogs, and Jack saw the surprise register in his friends' eyes when they realized that her skates were completely silent. The anger drained away from Jack, leaving behind a sick feeling that he had never felt before, but despised all the same. Shooting a glare at Jagger- _now look what you've done, you ruined my chances of friendship with that devotchka- _Jack turned around as well and skated after Kylie, the sound of contemptuous, mocking laughter scalding the air. "Where are you ittying off to, my droogie Hallowe'en Jack? Have we like _offended _you in some way?" Jack didn't answer, keeping his head down and his mind on his skates. He was angrier with the Diamond Dogs now than he had ever been before.

It didn't take long to catch up to Kylie, although she sped up when she heard the sound of squeaking wheels behind her. It was only when Jack touched her shoulder and she glanced up, startled, into his eyes, that she relaxed and slowed down. "Oh, it's you. I thought it was one of your friends." She stated the word "friends" as if it was dirty.

"I…" Jack began, trying to find the words for an apology, and then decided to defenestrate nadsat-talk for a bit. "I'm so sorry about my dr- friends, Kylie. I only wanted to talk to you is all. I… I didn't think of the consequences of bringing a… a girl…" How strange it was to say that word. "…with me…" He let go of her arm, suddenly self-conscious of his connection with her. "You have to know, I would never say those things that my friends did today, and I would never act on them either. I'd never try to rape you."

Kylie didn't look at Jack as she responded, "Oh. So you can talk like a normal person after all."

"Kylie." Jack stopped skating and reached out as if to touch her, but pulled back at the last minute. "If you never want to see me again, that's fine. We barely know each other anyway. But I just want you to know that I'd never do anything bad to any woman. I may be a Diamond Dog, but I'm not proud of it. It's the only way I can survive, you see, because my mother doesn't have any Earthly money to buy supplies with and…" He trailed off as Kylie, her back turned, slowly moved to face Jack. Her expression was guarded, unreadable.

"Jack, it's okay. I told you before, I get a lot of comments like that from much nastier folks in town." She swallowed, wetting her lips with her tongue. "My dad says it's what I wear- he says I shouldn't wear leather, because it looks like I'm just advertising for sex. But honestly, I know how to fend off those lechs." Kylie slid her hand down her leg, and for a wild moment Jack thought she was going to slide her black leggings off. But instead, her hand went into a fanny pack that clung to her waist, a black leather pouch that blended right into the rest of her clothing. She unzipped the fanny pack and drew out a circlet of metal, with jagged edges. Jack watched as Kylie held the metal circlet up to her eye, peering through a small hole in the middle.

"On Earth, these were called Chinese stars," Kylie explained. "China was a country on Earth. I have about seven of them in here. To use them, you throw them at the opponent's eyes or throat. That's how I drove the dogs out of the city today and saved you from being attacked." She set the Chinese star back into fanny pack, her hand shaking a little bit. "So… I can defend myself just fine if it comes down to a rape. If an unstable man comes anywhere near me, I know what I have to do."

Jack nodded, realizing that he should have thought of Kylie's ability to defend herself before. After all, she had driven that dog pack away, and of course no young woman would go walking alone on the streets of Hunger City unless they were well-defended or acting as a prostitute.

Come to think of it… if the Diamond Dogs wanted to have sex with someone, they could pick up the hookers that were just starting to fill the streets every night, the kind that didn't need to be paid for with money. Hardly anyone in the city used a fixed currency anyway, so it was difficult to know how to pay for anything. This was why the newly-formed sex industry, made up of young women who were short on supplies, asked their clients to pay with food or clothing instead of money. Though there were arguments that food and clothing were even more costly, as they were more abundant and yet had more value to the people.

Kylie skated backwards in a circle, waiting to see if Jack had any response. When she came back around to facing Jack, he gave her a comforting smile. "All of us have to have one way to defend ourselves in the city." Then he switched topics, still wanting to make sure he hadn't hurt Kylie's feelings. "Kylie, if you want me to leave you alone from now on, I'll do that. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable by being around me…"

"You're not making me feel uncomfortable," Kylie said. "It was your- what do you call them? Droogs? I had to get away from them, to make it clear I wasn't going to submit to what they wanted. If they really wanted it they would have gone after us." She laughed, and Jack was taken aback by the sound of it, like water flowing over stones in a stream. "I bet you Diamond Dogs have never had sex, anyway!"

"Not me," Jack said, flushing a bit at the thought. "I'm not sure about the other guys." Personally Jack thought it was strange to think of having sex at age fifteen. He knew that Jagger was eighteen, and therefore legally allowed to do it (or he would have been legal following Earthly laws, anyway; there were no real laws here in Hunger City), but Sledge, Widdy, and Dice were all closer to his age, and it made Jack feel uncomfortable when he imagined them hunting down girls and forcing themselves upon them. He hoped that like underage drinking, rape was something that went against the Diamond Dogs' standards.

"I guess it doesn't really matter either way," Kylie said, spinning on her the tips of her skates. Jack watched her, constantly amazed at her skill. How long had she been skating…? She was even better than Jagger.

Just as he was about to ask, however, Kylie said off-handedly, "You know, you can go back to your droogs if you want to. I don't want you to keep them waiting."

"Oh, no, I'm fine," Jack responded automatically. "I'll go meet them later and explain everything…"

"No, I insist," Kylie said, fighting a smile. She spun up to Jack, so close that he could have touched her… but he resisted the unusual urge. Why would he want to touch her? Hadn't he just decided that the thought of having sex at age fifteen was disturbing?

Kylie continued, "The longer you stay away from them, the more likely it'll be in their minds that you're having sex with me or something, and the more pissed they'll get. You have to go back."

"But… won't you get lonely?" Jack asked, and then felt incredibly stupid. _She's probably been out in the city on her own plenty of times before. Meeting you was just a chance of hers. _He didn't want to admit his real thought- _But I'll get lonely without you. _Kylie was the first person in days who had provided him with a truly fascinating conversation.

Kylie threw back her head and laughed outright, her hands creeping up to her hips. "Jack, I'm alone in the city for most of the whole day! You don't need to worry." She began to skate away, and Jack ached to follow her- but why? Did he want to continue the conversation that badly? Or did her being female have something to do with it?

"All right," he conceded, his spirits sinking a bit. "M- maybe I could see you tomorrow?" Hopefully that didn't sound like too forward a request.

Kylie bit her lip to hold back her grin, her eyes clearly saying all that was left unsaid. _Oh, so he's smitten with me! Well, I'll tease him a bit… _Jack, reading her expression, was left feeling embarrassed. He wasn't smitten with Kylie. He didn't even know what it felt like to be smitten with someone. _Just because she's a girl, she automatically assumes I have a crush on her… _Well, make that the first girl his age that Jack had met… although he still didn't know what her age was exactly.

Then Kylie invaded his thoughts by intoning sweetly, "Of _course _you can see me tomorrow!" The embarrassment that Jack had been struggling not to let show now took over his face for a moment, and Kylie, seeing the sign of her victory, let her smile take over her face. "I'll wait for you on the hill you were coming up this morning. See you then, Hallowe'en Jack!" She turned and started skating away, and Jack managed a "Goodbye, Kylie," before turning around himself and skating off, back to the other Diamond Dogs, his head reeling for reasons he could not think of.

It wasn't hard to locate the rest of the Diamond Dogs again. They'd moved out of the alley that Jack had first stumbled across them in and were now skating in the direction of a familiar hangout- the hot dog and hamburger place that Jack had stolen from on the day he met the Diamond Dogs for the first time. None of the boys looked behind them as Jack came wheeling up to take his place beside them, and none of them seemed to notice him, pretending that he wasn't there. It wasn't until Jagger spun around to face the Diamond Dogs, skating backwards, that Jack's presence was acknowledged. "You are back, my brother." The tone wasn't confrontational as Jack had been imagining it would be. Instead, Jagger presented his statement without interest, as one would talk about the weather. Jack shrugged as Jagger turned his gaze onto the rest of the Diamond Dogs, eyeing them one by one.

Dice thankfully broke the brief silence by asking, "Do you have any like ideas for what we are to do today, oh my brother and droog Jagger?"

"Yes," Jagger said slowly, fixing his gaze on Dice as if the boy was the most interesting thing in the world to look at. "I do have like an idea. But not for the daytime, my brother- oh no! This one is for the nochy."

"What- what kind of idea is it, brother?" Widdy asked, and Jack, hearing a stilted tone in his voice, began to feel unsettled. Something was wrong with this conversation- but what?

"Oh, just a malenky sort of veshch," Jagger responded airily, looking up towards the sky and clasping his hands together behind his back. "One of Bog's Angels is playing a concert this nochy, at the mesto known as the Club."

"Really?" Widdy gasped, and Dice's eyes widened in perceived astonishment. But Sledge, seemingly unimpressed, drawled in a bored tone, "So what, my brother? We can see the great Bog Himself perform on any given nochy."

Jagger aimed a glare at Sledge, his expression akin to one of an actor breaking character. Suddenly Jack realized what was off about the conversation. The Diamond Dogs were, indeed, only acting. The conversation had been scripted somehow, and this news of a performance was old news. Widdy and Dice had already heard it before, but were pretending not to have. For what purpose?

"At what time will this Angel be performing, oh my brother Jagger?" Jack questioned. It took his brain a while to slip back into nadsat-talk again. Jagger smiled a wicked smile, his eyes boring in on Jack. "Late late late. Later than you have ever been out, Hallowe'en Jack. It is about time you became like acquainted with the greatness that is rock and roll. We will viddy Bog's Angel with our own glazzies and slooshy the lovely music made by His banda, and then itty off for some late-nochy… _ultraviolence." _Jagger greatly stressed the last word, and Jack understood why. He had realized that Jack had slipped up and forgotten to use nadsat-talk, and was now hammering all of the nadsat-talk words he could think of into a sentence. "Ultraviolence" was not a word that Jack had yet heard, and he tried to guess at its meaning. Mere fun, or something more sinister? Jagger's smile grew even wider and he continued to skate backwards, his eyes locked on Jack, recounting the night's plans. "There will be no shop-crasting tonight, oh my brothers." The _S _was awkwardly tacked on at the end of Jagger's sentence as he remembered that his audience consisted of more people than Jack. "Instead, we will like roam the city in search of what they call enlightenment. I myself have a like craving to viddy the new industry for the old in-out-in-out. They say the devotchkas down there are real horrorshow." Jagger finished his elaborate presentation with a wink, and slowed his skating. Jack had to quickly brake before bumping into him.

"What skazat you, brother Hallowe'en Jack?" Jagger said, grabbing onto his shoulders suddenly. He pressed his face close to Jack's, making him feel uncomfortably paranoid. "Will you join us in our ultraviolence, oh my brother and faithful droog? Or have you other… plans for the nochy?" Jack could see Jagger visibly holding back a snicker, obviously thinking of Kylie. A small lick of flame burbled inside of Jack, anger mounting in his stomach. However, he held firm and did not release his emotions, meeting Jagger's stare levelly.

"Appy polly loggies, my brother, but I cannot join the Diamond Dogs tonight. My em will be expecting me back before then." Of course Jack would never reveal to his friends that not only did he care about his mother, but he also was opposed to underage sex. He was sure by now that all of the Diamond Dogs had experienced it, and he himself didn't want to be dragged into the mire.

Jagger's eyes flashed, and his grip on Jack's shoulders tightened a fraction. "Do you know what this means, oh my brother Hallowe'en Jack? You are denying a concert. In denying the concert, you are in denial of Bog Himself." He was so close to Jack that Jack could feel his breath hot on his neck, and his mind automatically went into defense mode, picturing the Bowie knife in his knapsack and calculating how quickly he could take it out and use it on Jagger…

"Are you not a Diamond Dog?" Jagger questioned fiercely. "Us Diamond Dogs do not need pees or ems, and we do not need sharps for ourselves like the devotchka you brought to us this afternoon. More than anything else, though, we do not need like religion. There is no God, Hallowe'en Jack! All we have is Aladdin Sane!"

"Aladdin Sane," Dice and Widdy chorused together breathlessly, caught by surprise. Jack wondered again who this Aladdin Sane was, and as he tried to find the words to defend his decision regarding the nighttime to Jagger, a new voice came to his rescue. "Let it go, oh my brother Jagger," Sledge called out, his voice utterly weary. "Hallowe'en Jack need not go to the concert with us this nochy. Bog or one of His Angels will be playing again soon, and he can itty then."

Slowly, Jagger drew his gaze off of Jack and onto Sledge. He removed his hands from Jack's shoulders (thankfully, for Jack been afraid that they would creep up to his neck any moment now) and skated towards his friend to look him properly in the eye.

"All right," Jagger said, not taking his stare away from Sledge. "It is all like settled then. We are ittying to the concert at the Club tonight. Our brother Hallowe'en Jack is not."

"Appy polly loggies," Jack mumbled. "I will come another time, oh my brother."

Jagger skated backwards and swung his head in Jack's direction. "You better come while there is hope for another time, Hallowe'en Jack."

As Jack was leaving Hunger City that afternoon, he stole several glances to all sides of him to see if he was being followed by anyone, or anything. Visions of the dog pack that had attempted to attack him that morning ran through his mind. He could still hear their otherworldly yapping, the growls emitted through sharp, bared teeth. To calm himself down, Jack told himself that _At least they're gone. At least they're gone. At least you had Kylie to save you._

Kylie… Jack started down the slope that would take him back home, seeing and not seeing his surroundings at the same time. Kylie, the first real girl he had ever met. Kylie, who was beautiful and clever. Kylie, who wanted to see him tomorrow. _Kylie. _

_You gloopy nazz, _Jack snorted at himself. _Going all bezoomy over a devotchka like her. She's a droog, nothing more. Certainly no one to give the old in-out-in-out to._

He puzzled over the conversation that he and Kylie had had all the way down the path to his home, the Manhattan Chase building (so named by his mother). By the time Jack got to the door, his mind was bursting with a question to ask his mother, a question that he had heard the answer to so many times before and yet still needed to ask, in light of his newfound knowledge imparted from Kylie.

When Jack walked into his home, he found his mother standing by the kitchen sink, washing dishes from her breakfast. She didn't turn around as Jack came in, instead waiting to finish her task. Jack sat down at the kitchen table and slung his knapsack over the back of the chair, playing with his fingers until his mother was done with the dishes and turned around, her eyes glowing expectantly, only to flicker and fade when she realized that Jack had not brought anything with him. It wasn't an official shopping day, and they still had plenty of food in the icebox, but Jack could tell that his mother had been hoping for more. _Appy polly loggies, _he murmured to her in his mind.

"Hello, Jack," his mother said, giving him a tired smile. "Have you had anything to eat today?" Jack shrugged, his way of evading the guilt that came with the knowledge that he had again taken food from the icebox without his mother's permission, and her features settles into a forced display of happiness. "All right, I'll fix you something," Jack's mother said much too brightly, and as she turned to the icebox to search its contents, Jack spoke out.

"Mom? Can you tell me again how we came to this planet, how the Earth was saved?" It was a story that Jack knew very well, but after conversing with Kylie he was interested once more in hearing it.

His mother laughed. "You know how we came to this planet, Jack, and you know that the Earth wasn't technically saved. I don't need to tell you 'the story' anymore." Yes, Jack had heard 'the story' many times before. He didn't want to hear it now that he was older and could understand all the gory details of Earth's decline and the start of a new civilization on an unnamed planet.

"It's not the story I'm looking for, Mom," Jack said, leaning forward on his elbows. "I want to know what _really _happened. You know, now that I'm l-" He caught himself before he could say _like. _"Now that I'm older. You don't need to dumb it down for me anymore."

Jack's mother paused in her search for something to eat and slammed the door to the icebox. She sat down at the table alongside Jack, clasping her fingers together, a mildly exasperated look on her face mixing with gentle chastisement. "There's not much else to tell you that hasn't already been told, Jack."

"Just tell me what I've sloo- heard before," Jack prompted. With an impenetrable gaze into her son's eyes, Jack's mother sighed heavily and nodded. "Fair enough." Her voice took on the reedy tone of a storyteller as her eyes clouded over, peering into the distance at something invisible and far away. "In the Earthly year of 1986, scientists on Earth discovered that our planet had only five years left to live. There was nothing we could do, they said. The planet would run out of natural resources, and there would be blood-red rains and yellow fog that choked the life out of us."

Jack, remembering that yellow fog as if it had happened the day before, fought the urge to cough. A slimy sensation coated his lungs and throat, and it felt as if pins and needles were stabbing into him…

He broke out of the memory immediately, his hands curling into fists, prepared to claw his throat open. Jack's mother didn't notice her son's reaction as she continued with the story.

"Gasoline was the first supply to go, and then the electricity was cut off. We had nothing left to live for on Earth, and were all looking to embrace death. I gave birth to you in the Earthly year of 1987, Jack. You spent the first four years of your life on Earth, though I doubt you remember anything from back then." His mother dragged herself out of the story to stare curiously and questioningly at Jack, challenging him to disagree. But Jack, who was loth to repeat the terrible memory he had relived a few seconds ago, shook his head and lied, "It's all blank."

"Ah," his mother said, sighing. "Well, you wouldn't want to remember those miserable times anyway. I struggled to keep you alive- and thank God it worked! Thank God we had the Saviors who came down from the sky and brought us to this planet to start a new life."

"Who were the Saviors?" Jack asked, knowing as he always did that he would never get an adequate answer to his question.

"I don't know, Jack," his mother gave her wonted answer. "They sailed down from the sky on magnificent, shining ships and hauled the survivors of Earth on board. We traveled for many days and nights, and then they deposited us on this nameless planet. Though we have no name for these good Samaritans, it should always be remembered that they saved our population from extinction, and we will always be grateful to them for that."

Jack nodded, envisioning the Saviors of the planet Earth. In his imagination, they were tall and long-limbed, their skin an ashy gray color and their hair flowing in multicolored streamers. For a moment Jack was sucked into his memory- he was standing on the deck of the ship, staring at one of these Saviors from behind. Just as the being started to turn around, though, revealing its face, the memory cut off abruptly. Jack had always improvised from there, sticking his father's kindly face on the face of Earth's Saviors.

"Don't you remember anything at all about them, though?" he said to his mother, again knowing exactly what sort of answer he would get.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Jack, but I really don't. It was all like a dream, you see… And I've always been the type to forget dreams. I wouldn't have believed it truly happened were it not for our presence here on this planet."

"I understand," Jack mumbled, racking his brains for more of that scintillating memory. There had to have been more than that… the humans had traveled for a long time through space to reach their new destination. Surely Jack had to have remembered more from the journey… But he had only been four years old, and if his mother couldn't remember it, it was unlikely he would be able to as well.

"How was Hunger City established?" Jack asked his mother, and she gave a funny sort of smile at the sound of the city's name. "Well, like Rome, it wasn't built in a day. Actually it existed before us humans came here, but we were the ones who took control of it and began to make plans to form a new civilization. However, those plans went to hell, as you well know." Jack stopped himself from flinching at his mother's last phrase. _As you well know. _It was the first time she had insinuated anything regarding his trips to the city to him.

Jack's mother continued, "No government was founded, and that meant no real laws, jobs, currency, or anything. Crime ran rampant in the city, and it became a dangerous place instead of the safe haven we humans were so seeking." These words were the same ones that Jack's mother had told him ever since he was old enough to understand, and Jack could see how obviously rehearsed they were. He himself knew what came next- _City people are bad people, Jack. Don't ever forget that. You can't make me go back there again._

"Mom?" Jack blurted, deviating from his usual silence to interrupt the tale. He felt that the familiar conversation needed a change of scenery. "Mom, weren't there… weren't there people from other planets in the city when we first came here? You've mentioned them before."

His mother blinked, surprised that Jack had spoken up. Her hands clenched, and Jack could tell from the look in her eyes that she was choosing her words carefully. "People from other planets? Why yes, there were a few, although I wouldn't call them people."

"What were they like?" Jack asked eagerly, forgetting himself in his rising curiosity. "Did they look like humans? Where did they come from? Where did they all go?" What he really wanted to know was why Kylie would ask him which planet he came from, as if there was any doubt. Based on her query, the people from other planets couldn't have been that different from humans if she could mistake Jack for one, but according to his mother the people from other planets were inhuman enough to not be considered as people.

To Jack's great disappointment, his mother waved the question away. "I never talked with them, Jack. I only caught glimpses from afar. As for where they went, I don't know. I haven't been to the city in years- you know that." Her brown eyes locked in on Jack's face, sending him the message. _Unlike you. _At that, Jack had to conceal a sigh of his own. What would his mother think if she found that he'd been consorting with exactly the type of "bad city people" that she had so fervently warned him against all those years ago? What would she do if she discovered that Jack was now one of them?

"Jack," Jack's mother said, breaking an awkward silence. She reached out and moved as if to touch Jack's face, but changed direction at the last minute and placed her hand over Jack's own. "Jack, Hunger City is a dangerous place, you know. I- I don't want you to get hurt out there…" It was a struggle for Jack to keep his features cool and collected, not giving anything away. He knew how much he meant to his mother- it was the same amount that she meant to him. His mother then spoke exactly what had been on his mind- "If I… If I lose you, Jack, I don't know how I can go on."

Afraid of the sentimentality all of a sudden, Jack stood up and went to his mother's side, giving her a hug. "It's all right, Mom," he assured her mindlessly. "I know how to take care of myself. Nothing's going to hurt me."

His mother patted his shoulder, clinging to him for comfort. "Jack, I love you. I hope you know that."

He nodded, his head on her shoulder. "Of course. I love you too, Mom."


	7. Chapter 7

Early the next morning, Jack woke up, performed his usual stretches, packed up his knapsack, slipped on his skates, and wandered out the door, just as he had done for the past few weeks. However, this time his mind was fresh and buzzing with excitement and preparation. With the advent of Kylie, Jack felt as if his heart had been opened to new opportunities, more so than when he had first met the Diamond Dogs. The girl's intrigue, and her tempting promise to meet him that day, kept Jack clear-headed and looking forward. As he scanned the skyline for a black-clad figure, he also warily searched the landscape for any sign of the dog pack that had attempted to attack him the day before. Fortunately the area was all clear on the dog front. _Thank Bog they didn't make it to our domy, _Jack thought, a shudder passing through his body that he tried to quell. _Once more, they're only DOGS, Jack. Get a grip on yourself._

His heart lifted as he approached the hill and caught sight of a familiar girl standing atop it. For a moment Kylie didn't appear to have seen Jack as she brushed the hair out of her eyes and squinted into the sun, her fingers stretching out an elastic band. With expert skill, she tied up her hair in the band, frowning a bit as a few brown wisps escaped and collapsed against her cheeks. Jack was somewhat enchanted by this singularly womanly gesture, before giving himself a mental slap on the face. _What, are you turning all gloopy and like soft all of a sudden?_

Kylie turned her head at that moment and noticed Jack for the first time. She raised her hand and gave a wide wave. Jack felt himself break into a grin, and he ran clumsily up the hill to meet his friend. "Hi hi hi there, Kylie."

"Hi-hi-hi there yourself," she said, her brown eyes dancing with mirth. "Man, that's a long way you have to skate to get here! I've been waiting since the sun came up."

"Do you like live on this hill, then?" Jack snorted, playfully ribbing her. "How come I've never viddied you around?"

"I don't live on this hill," Kylie rolled her eyes. "I live on the other side of town. I bet you've never been there before." Her "bet" was a dare lying in wait, a challenge as interpreted by Jack. He had half a mind to blurt that of course he had been there before, but the other half of his mind caught up and reminded him of the truth. Jack shrugged noncommittally. "I bet you've never been out _there _before, fair devotchka Kylie," he said, pointing in the direction of his home. Now the challenge was reversed, and Kylie had to respond. She smiled knowingly.

"I've never been there, _Hallowe'en _Jack. You'll have to show me someday." Neither the tone of Kylie's voice nor the language of her body hinted as to whether or not she was kidding. Jack found himself hoping that she wasn't. He turned to stand next to Kylie as she scanned the view from the top of the hill, facing the direction of the Manhattan Chase building. "Is that where you live, Jack? That skyscraper way out there?"

"Yes," Jack said. "My em- I mean my mom- named it the Manhattan Chase building, after a building on Earth. She told me that our domy- that is, our home- must have once been a part of Hunger City, but the builders probably like changed their rassoodocks- I mean, minds- about the like location of the city, and didn't like bother in tearing our domy down." He smiled lightly, self-conscious of the way he was talking. Kylie seemed a bit flustered from trying to keep track of the nadsat-talk words, but masked it in a surprisingly sharp demand. "Jack, can you please try not to use those nadsat-talk words around me? I'm sorry, it- it's hurting my head…"

"As you wish," Jack murmured, submitting. He himself always felt impolite when he used nadsat-talk around people who didn't speak it, like his mother. When in Rome, speak Latin.

There was a brief pause, in which Kylie placed her hands on her hips and Jack shifted his weight from one foot to another. He tried desperately to think of something more to say. Then Kylie filled up the silence with a question. "I- I'm sorry if I'm being nosy here- that is to say, intrusive." She smirked, and Jack averted his eyes. "But I have to ask, what happened to your eye? Is it hurt or anything?"

_Oh. _Jack chuckled in a self-aware manner. "No, Kylie. I wear this eyepatch for like fashion." Such a thing now sounded silly when he revealed it to another person.

"Like fashion," Kylie said, "or just fashion?" She turned her head to stare at him with a not-amused gleam in her eye. Jack was sure that her irritation was just a farce, and shrugged away her joke. "Okay, I wear it for _fashion. _The Diamond Dogs think it makes me look tougher."

"And what do you think?" Kylie asked, blinking in the sunlight.

Jack made a neutral gesture. "I think it looks cool. It does kind of impact my gl- eyesight, though."

"I would think so," Kylie said, nodding, and from the sound of her voice Jack could tell that her interest was now otherwise diverted. She jerked her head in the direction of his home. "Who do you live with out there, Jack? Your mom and… anyone else?" Jack gave her a "_look-who's-being-nosy-now" _glance, and Kylie rolled her eyes, although a trace a nervousness was on her face- _have I gone too far?_ "I mean, I'm sorry if I'm prying you too much… I just, I get really curious about things…" She giggled once, reproachfully. Jack, wanting to reassure Kylie, reached out to touch her. He wasn't sure what would be the most appropriate place to touch- her face, her arm, her shoulders? Finally he made his move just as his mother had done the night before and took Kylie's hand. She stared at him, surprised.

"It's okay, you're not bugging me," Jack said, suddenly realizing that this connection might be more intimate than he had thought. "It's okay to be curious. I know I'm curious quite often too… Just last night I was asking my mom all about how Hunger City was founded and about the people from other planets. She's the only person I live with, by the way," he awkwardly finished, remembering to answer Kylie's question. "My father died before I was born."

"I'm sorry," Kylie said sincerely, and Jack muttered another "it's okay," retreating his hand from her grip. He didn't meet Kylie's eyes, feeling embarrassed that he'd made a move on her without realizing it. How was he to have any experience with the opposite sex? He'd only ever lived with his mother…

"I live with my parents and my sister," Kylie said, but Jack could tell that the subject was no longer holding any interest for her. Was her mind lingering on that accidental display of affection, wondering what it could mean? Jack wanted to slap himself, not for the first time that day, for being so stupid. Friends didn't hold each other's hands, did they? He figured it was time to apologize.

"Appy polly loggies, Kylie," he said without thinking, the nadsat-talk slipping out of his mouth all too easily. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable by holding your r- hand. I, I didn't know it wasn't something that friends do… I haven't had experience with any devot- girls your age before, or any girls at all really…"

To Jack's relief, Kylie started to laugh. She pulled away from Jack and threw back her head, and her laughter was sweet music to Jack's ears. "Jack, it's perfectly all right! It's not unnatural for friends to hold each other's hands. I know you didn't mean it like that." Hesitantly, Jack offered a tiny smile, which Kylie returned in full force. All was forgiven, and Jack felt his heart melt at the sight of Kylie's sunbeam grin.

"Come on," Kylie said, changing the subject again. She skated backwards and pointed to the other side of the hill. "Let's skate." She zipped down the hill while Jack struggled on his feet, walking down tripping over himself. As soon as they reached the asphalt at the bottom, Kylie took off like a rocket, and Jack hurriedly followed her, trying to catch up. He was painfully aware of the squeaks his skates gave off, and Kylie seemed to be too.

"What's the matter with your roller skates?" she called over her shoulder as Jack neared her. "Don't you ever oil the wheels?"

"I wasn't like aware that they needed oil," Jack muttered dryly. He made his way to her side and they began skating in sync, the pace a little too fast for Jack's liking, but he didn't complain. Kylie snorted good-naturedly beside him.

"Of course your skates need oil! You might not notice it when you're skating with your friends, who have equally noisy skates, but the squeaking really isn't ideal when you're trying to shoplift or what have you. It totally gives your position away. And on top of that, I bet it's not good for the skates either." She stuck out her chin defiantly, as if daring Jack to find wrong with her statement. He grunted, annoyed with her lecture. His skates were no worse than hers!

"I bet I can out-skate you any day of the Earthly week," Jack proclaimed. Ah, here it was- the kind of challenge against Kylie that the two of them had both been longing for. Kylie grinned mischievously, a wild spark flaring in her eye. "Shall we make this a contest, Hallowe'en Jack?"

He nodded, already gearing up his body in preparation. Kylie braked in the middle of the street and waited for Jack to line up in place with her. Standing so close to Kylie, Jack could feel quivers of excitement running off of her skin, vibrations that he undoubtedly shared. "All right…" Kylie murmured, relishing the words and the power that lay within them.

"On your marks… get set…" Jack leaned forward.

"GO!'

They took off speeding down the street, careening at top speed. For the first few minutes all Jack could focus on was beating Kylie, but he soon forgot his goal as the breeze caressed his cheek, made cold by the velocity at which he was traveling. The world around Jack became a blur, and he closed his eyes, content that there were no obstructions in his way. The conspicuousness of his squeaky wheels was now insignificant, transformed into a sort of pleasurable music. Jack could almost feel sparks flying from his feet as the metallic wheels ground firmly into the concrete street, rubbing flame-hot friction… His breath came in pants as he moved even faster. For Jack, the race against Kylie had no end. If she grew exhausted, he would leave her behind and keep going and going and going, basking in his victory. He wouldn't stop until he could no longer go on or until he reached the furthest edge of Hunger City- or maybe he would travel even farther, exploring locations unknown.

And then-

"Jack! I won!"

Jack was pulled from the clouds in his head to come crashing to the ground. He slowed down and braked, turning as he came to a stop. Kylie stood behind him, her chest heaving, a delighted smile on her face. She pumped the air as Jack came back over to her.

"I reached the finish line first!" Kylie exclaimed, practically glowing with triumph. "This proves it- my skates are far better than yours!" Her hand shot out to punch Jack in the arm, and he stared numbly at her, his mind still catching up to his body.

"This was the finish line?" He scuffed the ground beneath his feet, dumbfounded. "You cheated! You didn't tell me where we were supposed to stop!"

"No, but you were the one who let me overtake you," Kylie said smugly. "You were enjoying yourself so much that you didn't even notice."

Jack turned slightly away, waiting for his heartbeat to regain its normal tempo. Finally when he was able to talk again, he faced Kylie again, forcing a smile to let her know that he wasn't put out about his loss, and jabbed a finger at her chest. "I call for a rematch. Right now."

"Oh, that's easily-" Kylie began, but a noise coming from within an alley stopped her in her tracks. Jack cocked his head as his ears picked up the familiar squeaking sound of boys on wheels. The Diamond Dogs were coming.

"Um," Jack blurted, unsure of what to do or say. His instincts told him to get Kylie away from his friends. "Um… maybe you'd better leave, Kylie… I hear the Diamond Dogs coming."

"What, no rematch?" Kylie whined sorely. "You sure you don't want to try and fail again, Jack?"

"I'm sure," he said, peering down the alley. The shadows cast by the boys' bodies were now on the wall of the building. "I- I'm sorry, Kylie, but you'll have to go now… I don't want them to-"

"I understand," she said, making to leave. "Goodbye, Jack. See you tomorrow, maybe?"

Jack smiled. "See you tomorrow morning. Same place, same time." With that, Kylie skated off, and Jack's shoulders slumped as Jagger, Sledge, Widdy, and Dice broke out of the alley and made straight for him. "Hallowe'en Jack!" Jagger cried, skating over to Jack in a few bold strides. "Hallowe'en Jack, we have been like looking for you everywhere! Come with your brothers and droogs and slooshy us govoreet about last nochy, which you so gloopily missed out on! We had a real horrorshow time, oh my brother."

Jack smiled weakly at Jagger and the rest of the Diamond Dogs, his mind hurriedly flipping the switch from his normal language to nadsat-talk. "I would love to slooshy you govoreet about last nochy, oh my brother and droog Jagger." Jagger beckoned Jack forward with a smile on his face, and Jack followed along, slipping into the group of Diamond Dogs easily. Widdy and Dice welcomed Jack back with smiles, but Sledge only nodded at Jack and narrowed his eyes, his expression severe. Jack wondered why he was upset. Had Sledge seen Jack with Kylie? But why should he disapprove? The day before, Sledge had actually defended Jack when Jagger tried to force him to go to a concert and pick up a prostitute, almost as penance for the apparent sin of hanging out with Kylie. If Sledge was on Jack's side, why was he frowning now?

_Stop it, Jack, _Jack's mind said, calming him down. _You're overthinking this. Maybe Sledge didn't feel like smiling at you. You probably just misinterpreted his actions._

Coming back to the real world, Jack turned all of his attention on Jagger as his friend led the Diamond Dogs back into the alley they had just come out of. He stopped and turned around, rubbing his hands together with relish in preparation for telling the tale. Widdy, Dice, and Sledge took an unseen cue and sat down together, Jack quickly following suit. Jagger's gaze roamed over the Diamond Dogs, satisfied.

"As you well like know, oh my brother," he began, "we viddied one of Bog's Angels perform at a malenky mesto that goes by the eemya of the Club last nochy. The mesto was packed wall-to-wall with dozens of lewdies, many of them peeting their alcoholic drinks, but us Diamond Dogs took no part in that, oh my brother Hallowe'en Jack. The Angel performing was a bolshy veck who called himself-"

"Eel Monsoon," the Diamond Dogs chorused together in reverence.

Jagger continued the story. "You have never slooshied better music in your jeezny, brother Hallowe'en Jack. We of course have, because we have viddied Bog Himself perform. But this Angel's concert was a like close second to Bog. Each warble was a like prayer, the shoom very gromky so that it nearly hurt our ookoes, oh my brother. The guitar was fierce and jangling, the drums pounding into our chests. The goloss of-"

"Eel Monsoon…"

"-was smooth and clear and oh so heavenly, my brother. He did not sing in our nadsat-talk, but we will allow it, for only the great and mighty Bog can sing in our like language. When the show was over we like emptied out into the nochy and ittied off to find ourselves some sharps to spend the rest of the nochy with." Jagger's smile began to grow wider in remembrance of the second half of the night, and Jack shifted once, starting to feel out of place.

"We came across several horrorshow devotchkas downtown, oh my brother," Jagger said, his voice hushed. He was caught in memory, reliving the moment exactly. "They were dressed in such tight tight platties that you could viddy the exact like shape of their plotts. Their shirts were cut low and their skirts were too short. They asked us for advance payment, oh my brother, and we agreed to it. Not having any cutter with ourselves, we traded in some of the supplies we crasted yesterday- a heavy price, maybe, but one that was truly worth it." Jack wondered how sex could be worth giving up supplies.

"We privodeeted the devotchkas to a basement that I had found just a day or two before, oh my brother. Down in the basement, in the dark, there is nothing but a few like mattresses lying around, perfect for lubbilubbing on. We made those devotchkas shake and moan and sigh for more and more, and then we zasnooted until morning came. The sharps had like left us all on our oddy knockies, down there in a basement. We dressed and ittied off, and now I am here, oh my brother, govoreeting with you about how the nochy was. What have you to skazat in like response?"

Jack, his head buzzing from exposure to new nadsat-talk words that he hadn't heard before, gathered his wits carefully to form an appropriate reply. "It sounds as if you Diamond Dogs had quite a lot of ultraviolence, oh my brother and droog Jagger." Jagger dipped his head. "We did indeed, Hallowe'en Jack. We did indeed."

"Someday I will itty with you to viddy and slooshy Bog's Angels," Jack said, trying not to promise anything, but knowing that Jagger would be upset with him if he didn't at least hint at the likelihood. "I have never slooshied of anything like these concerts in all my jeezny, like you skazatted."

"Oh, and that is exactly why you need to come with us, my brother," Jagger said. He rocked back on his skates, eyes sparkling. "I told you, Hallowe'en Jack, that you have not like lived until you have seen Bog and All His Holy Angels. You have not lived until you experience the greatness that is rock and roll!"

_Rock and roll… _The name for the music triggered something in Jack's head. That and _guitar… _He recalled suddenly the headline on his Earthly newspaper, the article about his father. BRITISH _ROCK _SENSATION ZIGGY STARDUST…

A voice came back to him, a voice from long ago, nine years earlier. _"Your father's name was Ziggy Stardust. He was a musician- a singer and a songwriter. He played _guitar_ like no one else in the history of music."_ Yes, it was all adding up now. Jack's father who was now dead had been a sort of Earthly Bog's Angel. And Jack, being his son, was therefore descended from a God.

"Jagger!" Jack exclaimed at once, his mind on fire, ready to blurt out what he had just realized. "Listen to me for a malenky bit, Jagger, oh my brother and droog." Jagger skated forward again, blinking carefully, and the rest of the Diamond Dogs perked up in interest, turning towards Jack. "What have you to skazat, oh my brother?" Widdy asked.

"Do you remember that starry Earthly newspaper that you nearly razrezzed on the day that you met me, oh my brother Jagger?" Jack questioned. Jagger nodded. "I remember, Hallowe'en Jack."

"The article was about my old pee, you know, who has snuffed it," Jack said. "According to the article, my pee was a rock musician, just like these Holy Angels you govoreet so often about. Does that mean that my pee was an Angel too?"

In a flash, Jagger's good mood had faded. He stared coldly at Jack, his eyes no longer sparkling, instead taking on a metallic glint. "What are you like skazatting, oh my brother?" He crossed his arms and wheeled forward. "Do you mean to skazat that you believe your old pee was holy, and you are like holy too?"

"I suppose," Jack said, afraid that he'd made a mistake but not knowing how to get back on Jagger's good graces. "If rock musicians are Bog's Angels, and my pee was a rock musician, then he was one of Bog's Angels, and that makes me-"

"Stop stop stop!" Jagger cried, zipping in quickly and giving Jack a sharp tap on the arm. He glared angrily, his lower lip pushing out. "You should not skazat the veshches that you are skazatting, oh my brother. 'Tis unwise to declare yourself as holy. It is a vonny crime and like sacrilegious, a sin against Bog Himself, oh my brother!"

Widdy, Dice, and even Sledge had snapped their heads up to watch the mounting altercation. Jack absently rubbed his arm on the place where Jagger had tapped it, confusion filling his head. Why was Jagger so opposed to his musings, which if Jack had figured out logically, should be true? The confusion was quickly replaced by cold anger that washed through Jack's stomach. What right did Jagger have to tell him what was holy and what was not? Jack's belief in Bog as a God was sketchy at best, as he had never gotten the full idea of who Bog was and what he was supposed to do, but as far as he knew, Bog was a rock musician, and if rock musicians were holy, why was Jack's father not considered as such?

Jack got to his feet slowly, reaching into his knapsack to draw out his Bowie knife in its sheath. Slipping it out of the sheath, he stalked forward towards Jagger, the rest of the Diamond Dogs falling silent as they realized that Jack was truly offended.

"It was unwise of you to insult my pee like that, oh my brother," Jack whispered, running his finger along the blade's edge.

Jagger met him with a contemptuous glare. "It was unwise of you to compare your sodding pee to Bog, Hallowe'en Jack."

Jack glowered right back, the cold anger freezing his body. He lifted the knife to his waist, taking a few more menacing steps forward. "I don't want to fight you, oh my brother, but if you continue to like insult my pee, whom I love dearly even though he has snuffed it, there will be a bitva."

"I could easily like defeat you, Hallowe'en Jack," Jagger sneered. "You are far too skinny to be a real like threat."

_Talk about adding insult to… insult. _Jack's brow furrowed further, sensitive about his size. He had never known that he was underweight for his age until he met the Diamond Dogs, and no amount of food could fill him out, burned quickly away by his high metabolism. Angry now beyond the point of return, Jack rushed forward on his skates, making for Jagger. But a cry rang out behind him.

"Stop!" Widdy cried, distressed. "Is this not the day after a nochy of worship? It is not right to start a bitva, brothers! We must not do a veshch today!"

Jagger held out his empty hands in front of him as Jack skidded to a stop, gripping his Bowie knife in an iron fist and glaring. Jagger spoke softly, trying to calm Jack down. "What Day-viddy-widdy says is right, my brother. After a nochy of worship where we go to see Bog and All His Holy Angels perform, us Diamond Dogs never fight or crast or give devotchkas the old in-out-in-out or any of the like usual veshches we do on normal days. It is like what they called on Earth…"

"The Sabbath day?" Jack suggested. He was starting to cool off now, regaining his temper, although he still held the knife clutched loosely in one hand.

Jagger nodded, uninterested. "It is like that, oh my brother. 'Tis not wise to fight on the day after a concert." Just as Jack thought that conflict had been avoided, Jagger's tone filled with scorn. "Not that you would know of anything like that, oh my brother. You chose to go out with that devotchka from the city instead of go out with us. You didn't even like allow us to share your catch, my brother Hallowe'en Jack! That is a veshch that I do not pony. You found a perfect, willing devotchka, and then you kept her all for yourself!"

"And you left nothing but hookers for us!" Dice laughed. "You are like very selfish when it comes to sharps, oh my brother."

Jack growled unconsciously, trying his best to keep his head. It seemed as if Jagger was trying to rile him up on purpose. Today, Sledge didn't come to his rescue and tell Jagger to knock it off. Jack was on his own to defend himself with words.

"Do not govoreet about Kylie like that, oh my brother Jagger," Jack said carefully, a warning edge in his voice. "She is a droog to me, just like you Diamond Dogs are. I did not give her the old in-out-in-out yesterday, and neither she nor I would have wanted to anyway."

He lifted his knife again and stared at his reflection in its shiny surface. "There are two veshches that you cannot like insult around me, my brother Jagger. The first is my poor old pee, and the second is Kylie and my relationship with her. We only like met for the first time yesterday, and I do not think it is fair of you to like leap to conclusions about what we did together. I know that today is not a day for tolchocking and fighting, but if you continue to knock Kylie I will knock your litso in, oh my brothers."

Jagger blinked once, his expression unreadable, and Jack sheathed his knife and went skating back to the rest of the Diamond Dogs. As he sat down among them, he could feel some kind of respect and awe radiating off of them. Widdy and Dice stared with wide eyes, and Sledge gave an near-imperceptible nod, a movement that spoke volumes. _Good for you for sticking up for yourself, oh my brother, _Sledge's eyes seemed to say. _Good for you for not letting Jagger insult you such._

"Hallowe'en Jack," Jagger called, skating forwards a bit, wary, as if afraid of approaching his own friends. Jack detected the smallest sliver of worry in his body language, worry that he was losing control of the group that he led. But this worry was quickly pushed down so as not to be evident when Jagger spoke. "I pony your demands quite well. Appy polly loggies, brother, I did not mean to like offend you." He seemed to be hating the words that were crawling out of his mouth. "I will never say such veshches again."

"Thank you," Jack murmured, and the boys beside him seemed to exhale a collective sigh of relief. A fight had been averted. Jagger smiled, but did not sit down, to show his dominance above the rest of the Diamond Dogs. He skated in a figure eight while Jack murmured, "And for your like information, my brother and droog Jagger, I did not leave you to be with Kylie. I left because I was worried my em would think I was like missing."

Jagger grunted, having nothing to say to that, and it suddenly occurred to Jack that none of the Diamond Dogs had ever mentioned having families before. They never went home, never worried that someone might be looking for them, never took more supplies than they themselves needed. Jack was at once curious to know what had happened to the Diamond Dogs' families.

"Jagger," Jack said to catch his friend's attention. Jagger raised his eyebrows inquiringly. Jack started to feel a bit self-conscious, but he forged ahead anyway.

"Have you, and your other droogs, ever had like families? You must have had pees and ems at some point in your jeeznies, oh my brothers. What happened to them?"

Jagger paused for a moment before grinning evilly in response. "I myself have never had a 'family' as you call it, my brother." He pointed to Sledge, who looked up with a disgruntled expression- _"why can't you leave me alone?" _

"Sledge here is a runaway," Jagger explained, and "Day-viddy-widdy and No Dice Bryce-" he pointed to them- "are cousins who decided to like tag along with us Diamond Dogs, oh my brother. As you can see, Hallowe'en Jack, none of us have what you call 'families.'" He spoke the words with relish, almost seeming to be proud of the fact that he had no family. Jack blinked thoughtfully, wondering what it must be like to be an orphan. He couldn't imagine a world without his mother. She was the solid rock in his life, the one person he could simultaneously depend on and look after, the one person who would always be there for him when he got lonely. In short, Jack's mother was his best friend, and he couldn't imagine anything different.

The alley had fallen quiet. Jagger was skating aimlessly, practicing his tricks, and the rest of the Diamond Dogs were still sitting down, fiddling with their skate wheels and fidgeting. Widdy and Dice had started a conversation in quiet voices, and Sledge rolled the wheels of his skates in his fingers, a look of boredom on his face. Jack was starting to feel the same way, so he stood up and brushed himself off, pushing his lengthy hair behind his ears. "Jagger? As I did not viddy the concert of Bog's Angel that you viddied last nochy, does the like Sabbath Day not apply to me?"

"Don't call it the Sabbath Day, oh my brother," was Jagger's immediate response. "The like religion of rock and roll has nothing to do with the Christian religion or whatever you call it."

"It doesn't apply to you either way," Sledge spoke up. "You are allowed to itty off, Hallowe'en Jack."

Jagger pouted, looking out of sorts because Sledge had stolen his line. "Pay Sledge no mind, brother Hallowe'en Jack. He only wishes that he didn't have to like observe this day himself." With that, Jagger stuck his tongue out at Sledge, who sighed and rolled his eyes back. Turning his attention back to Jack, Jagger said kindly, "Of course you can itty wherever you want to if you do want to, brother."

"Thank you," Jack said, nodding. "I have some supplies to crast." He began to skate away, the Diamond Dogs yelling their goodbyes from behind his back and his mind already bursting with things to do and say- steal those supplies, and then go find Kylie again.

To his sadness, Jack did not meet up with Kylie again that day, and he went home from Hunger City with a heavy heart that he tried to hide from his mother. Why should he care so much about Kylie's absence? He had never felt lonely when by himself before he met her. But the image of her dark brown eyes, her wispy hair and her playful smile haunted Jack all the way back to his home, and he wished fervently that she was with him at the time. Was her personality really so fascinating to Jack? Or what the simple fact that she was the first real girl he had ever met the only thing that enchanted him?

As Jack traveled the barren landscape, he saw a large gray lump of a creature lumbering in the same direction he was headed. Jack's muscles tensed, and he reached for his Bowie knife. _It's a dog. _It was to be hoped that he would be able to escape the animal by himself without help from a certain person who was not here. _Thank you, Kylie, thank you very much…_

It turned out that Jack didn't need to wish Kylie was around. The dog paused up ahead and dropped something it had been carrying in its mouth onto the ground, pawing at it. As Jack warily passed it by, he could see that the dog was clawing apart a scrap of meat. It lifted its head when Jack walked past it and sniffed the air, its eyes glittering with what Jack felt for sure was undiluted hatred. A shiver ran up his spine, and he quickened his pace. The dog, thankfully, went back to eating its meal.

There was something altogether too _human _about those dogs, Jack decided. Inhumanity would normally be what freaked him out, but when applied to a creature like a dog, who was already inhuman enough, any trace of humanity in its eyes would terrify Jack to the extreme. _They might be from another planet, _Jack thought, _but there's no way they can be from this one. Nothing that evil looking could have come from our Utopia._ The image of Kylie's face escaped Jack's mind, to be replaced by the malicious stare of the dogs. Chills bit into him as he hurried the rest of the way home, not wanting to be out when the sun sank below the horizon. He felt he couldn't take such fear.


	8. Chapter 8

Kylie and Jack met on the hill facing Hunger City the next morning, and the morning after that, and the morning after that, until their rendez vous's became a ritual. Every day Jack felt his heart leap when he approached the edge of the hill and saw Kylie up above him, waving her arms. The dogs were sometimes spotted around their perch, but they never came close, and it was then that Jack and Kylie could talk most freely. Sometimes they sat down together on the hill to chat meaningfully, and sometimes they skated around town together, racing and playing all sorts of games. Jack never cared whether he won or not. The joy of being with Kylie was satisfaction enough. Together they named their meeting place Poacher's Hill, after the rhyme about Diamond Dogs being poachers that Kylie had told Jack. The title quickly spread from Jack's mouth to those of the Diamond Dogs themselves, and it became customary for Jack to part with Kylie with the words "I'll see you tomorrow on Poacher's Hill."

From Kylie, Jack learned all about the people from other planets whom she had mentioned during their first encounter. Skating side by side, Kylie told Jack all about the strange people who spoke in a reptilian tongue, full of hissing and grunting and odd noises. "Because their language is so hard for us humans to replicate, and ours being the same for them, no one I've spoken to knows quite what to call these people," Kylie informed her companion. "Their planet was named Mercury by the humans, and so we call them Mercurians, though that's not what they call themselves."

"What do they look like?" Jack asked, still eager to find out why Kylie would have mistaken him for a person from another planet that first meeting. Kylie shrugged, a gesture that she had started picking up from Jack. "Green scales and sharp little teeth. Flippers for hands. Claws. Nothing human about them, except that they're the ones who built this city."

Jack was now even more mystified as to why Kylie might assume he came originally from another planet. Obviously he didn't look anything like a reptile or a dog. Her last sentence, though, piqued his interest more than the question he had to ask did.

"I never heard before that the Mercurians built this city. My mom never told me anything like that."

"Funny, that's what I learned from my parents," Kylie snorted. "Apparently Hunger City was already here with shops and everything when the humans came to this planet. The Mercurians had built it all and were getting along just fine by their monetary system. Then when the humans came, they asked to take over the shops and use their own currency. It took a year or two, but finally the humans won out, and the Mercurians have been slowly reducing in numbers, though no one can say where they've gone. The ones still left in the city nowadays hang out primarily in bars and clubs."

Jack frowned. That explained why he had never seen a Mercurian before, but… "I don't remember anything like that." He ran his fingers through his hair as if trying to pry memories right out of his head, distressed. "I _should _be able to remember…"

"Hey, you were five Earthly years old when you first came here," Kylie said, giving Jack a friendly tap on the shoulder. "You were probably too young to know about all that stuff. Don't sweat it."

"No, but…" Jack protested, although he wasn't sure why he was protesting anymore. "I remember…" He trailed off, not knowing what to say or what he wanted to convey anyway. They lapsed into silence.

The next day, the two sat on Poacher's Hill for a while, and at Kylie's insistence, Jack let her braid his hair, rolling his eyes at her on the outside while internally being pleased that she wanted to touch him. Kylie was giggling as she gathered up his shoulder-length, glossy black hair and began to weave it gently. When she scraped Jack's hair behind his ears, though, her giggle was cut short as it turned into a gasp. Jack whipped his head around to see what was the trouble, and Kylie scooted backwards, a look of shock on her face.

"Your ears…"

"My ears? What about them?" Jack questioned, reaching up to finger the skin gently. There didn't appear to be anything wrong with them.

Kylie recovered herself, though a twinge of surprise still showed on her face. "They're… they're pointed. At least a little bit. I've never seen a human with pointed ears before."

Jack, still feeling his ears, looked over at Kylie's own to compare. The tips of her ears were softly rounded, unlike Jack's, which tapered to ever-so-slight points. A bit confused now, Jack dropped his hand and stared back into Kylie's eyes.

"Is this why you assumed I wasn't from Earth when you first met me?"

"Well, I didn't notice the ears right away," Kylie said, shifting uncomfortably. "What first got my attention was your skin. I told you I've never seen a human with skin as light as yours before. But aside from that and the pointed ears, you look like a human. And you don't look like any other kind of person that I know of."

Jack made a _hmm _sound, his mind preoccupied with wondering why it was exactly that he had these bodily anomalies. His mother didn't have pointed ears, but in the photographs he had seen of his father, he could tell that his father had had them. As for the skin, his mother's was peachy, not as light as Jack's pink-ish skin, and all of the newspapers that Jack's father had been in had yellowed and faded with age, so that it was impossible to tell what the real color of his skin was.

Kylie reached forward, beckoning Jack back over to her. "Come on, Jack. I didn't mean to worry you. There's nothing wrong with your ears. In fact," she winked, "it looks rather dashing."

Despite his odd, muddled mood, Jack let out a laugh. "All right," he said, pretending to surrender but in actuality gladly submitting to Kylie's wishes. "I'll come back." He turned around and willfully allowed Kylie to pull his hair back and braid it once more.

"How does it look?" Jack asked when Kylie was done.

She loaded her voice with sugar. "You're so _pretty!"_

Jack groaned. "Gee, thanks a lot. Just what I wanted to hear." He stood up and gingerly touched the braid running down his back. Even though it looked probably looked girly, he had to admit it sure felt more comfortable than wearing his hair loose. "The Diamond Dogs sure are going to laugh at me."

"You can un-braid it once you get into the city," Kylie told Jack. She then spoke the actual words that he had wanted to hear. "Come on, let's skate!"

Among other things, Kylie taught Jack a very important tidbit of knowledge- how to properly oil a pair of roller skate wheels. Like before, when Jack had been worried about what the Diamond Dogs would think of the braid in his hair, he was now concerned with how they should take his new sound. The braid had been a mere annoyance, something for his friends to laugh at. Oiling the skate wheels was different. There was an unspoken rule that stated that to be a Diamond Dog, one could not have properly-oiled skates. The squeaking sound was almost their trademark, and if Jack knew anything about Jagger, he could assume ahead of time that the boy was not going to like this perceived sign of rebellion against the Diamond Dogs. Not one little bit.

Predictably, Jagger flew into a rage when he realized for the first time that Jack's skates were making no sound. "Where is the shoom of squeaking, oh my brother?" he howled at Jack. "Do you not know that by defying the skates, you are defying everything we like stand for?"

Jack was tempted to ask Jagger what exactly it was that the Diamond Dogs stood for, but he held his tongue. "Appy polly loggies, but I do not like think that simply oiling my skates is a sign of like treason or rebellion, oh my brother and droog Jagger," he said cautiously. Before Jagger could protest, Jack spun to the right side of Widdy, who he had been skating beside on the left. "I actually find that it makes skating like easier."

Jagger glowered and opened his mouth, looking as if he was about to start cursing Jack out, but Sledge intervened at that moment. "Lay off on Hallowe'en Jack, oh my brother," he said to Jagger, staring him down. "Let him oil his skates if he wants to."

Jagger's stare moved from Jack to Sledge. He closed his mouth, hovered for a moment in skating backwards, and then turned around, saying not a word to any member of the Diamond Dogs. Jack was grateful for Sledge's intervention, knowing him now to be the only Diamond Dog who would dare stand up to their explosive leader, and tried to thank him later that day. However, Sledge would have none of it.

"You don't need to thank me for anything, oh my brother," Sledge stated in a steely, clipped tone. "This will be like the last time I save you from Jagger. You must learn in your own way how to skazat your rassoodock and how not to take cal from brother Jagger."

Jack nodded, understanding. He couldn't rely on Sledge to come to his defense all the time, just as Kylie had told him he couldn't rely on her to save his life from the dogs every time. Fortunately the dogs had not seemed to pose a threat since that first day, but Jagger was a person that Jack encountered every day, and against whom he would need to know how to defend himself. While thinking about this, Jack began to wonder why Sledge was speaking in his favor anyway, and asked him so.

"I did the same for Widdy and Dice, the last two malchicks to become Diamond Dogs," Sledge sighed. "At first there was only me and Jagger. Then Day-viddy-widdy and No Dice Bryce showed up, and Jagger took great like delight in tolchocking these young malchicks quite a bit and skazatting such awful veshches to them. I protected them then until they learned to defend themselves on their own like accord. To this day I am the only Diamond Dog with the keeshkas to stand up to Jagger, oh my brother, because I am his closest droog. He knows not to touch Widdy and Dice anymore, and when you get the yarbles to defend yourself, Hallowe'en Jack, he will stop like bothering you about every malenky veshch."

Personally, Jack couldn't see how Jagger would ever stop his haranguing, which due to one small issue was becoming more incessant by the day. This issue went by the name of Kylie. After skating around the city every morning, Jack would head off to find the Diamond Dogs, and more often than not Kylie would come along with him. Whenever Jagger caught sight of Kylie, his lips would curl back from his teeth, presenting a sneer. Jack could never figure out what the big deal with Kylie was. It was more than Jack "being selfish" about Kylie- he'd made it very clear to Jagger that the two were only friends, nothing more. The only issue that Jack could think of was that Jagger was jealous of the time Jack spent with Kylie, which angered Jack a bit. Why did Jagger have to make a big deal out of the fact that Jack had friends in the city who weren't the Diamond Dogs? It wasn't as if Jack was expected to spend every waking moment with them.

He discussed his thoughts on Jagger's aversion to Kylie with her as they skated into the city the next morning. "It bothers me that Jagger doesn't like you," Jack said, adjusting his eyepatch so that he could see Kylie a bit more clearly. "If he did, maybe…" He wasn't sure how Kylie would react to the suggestion, but once he'd begun to speak there was no stopping his mouth. "Maybe you could become a Diamond Dog too."

Kylie gave one of her characteristic snorts. "Don't worry what they think about me, Jack. I don't know them well enough to care myself."

"But they think you're some kind of slut who only wants to hang out with me for sex," Jack complained despondently. "At least Jagger does. I've heard him talking about it with Sledge when they think I'm not listening." If they only knew the truth… "They put you down and they say I'm wrong."

"Who gives a shit?" Kylie said, and then her face flushed pink. "Oh, I mean… who cares?" She blinked apologetically at Jack. "I'm sorry. My parents don't like it when I use strong language at home, so out here I try to get all the swearing out of me before I have to go home…"

Kylie's admission of her faults somehow warmed Jack's heart to her even more. "Don't apologize," he said, moving in closer to her. "I- I like it when you govoreet that way."

"Govoreet, or talk?" Kylie questioned, and Jack laughed hesitantly, unaware that he had accidentally slipped into nadsat-talk. Whenever he felt uncomfortable with something he was saying, masking the statement in nadsat-talk made it easier for Jack to get out. He did it often around Kylie, unconsciously, so that he didn't notice when he was doing it. When Kylie pointed it out, Jack usually felt more uncomfortable, and had to resist the urge to use more nadsat-talk. It was important to him that he spoke in a language that Kylie understood.

Not that she hadn't been picking up on nadsat-talk from his occasional usage of it. Sometimes Kylie would refer to something as being "real horrorshow." She grinned when Jack stared at her in surprise. "I need more adjectives in my vocabulary!" Finally Jack decided to teach Kylie nadsat-talk, in return for her teaching him how to oil his skates. Kylie became fluent in the mysterious language, but she refused to use it with Jack. "Only when we're around the Diamond Dogs or anyone else who expects us to use it," she said. "It's a good language, but it has no use when we can speak the Earthly language just fine."

The more time that Jack spent with Kylie, the more fascinating she became to him. The facets of her personality drew him towards her with intrigue. He marveled at how a person could be coy and flirtatious one minute, and serious and sarcastic the next. Jack soon began considering Kylie as not just a friend, but his best friend, more so than any of the Diamond Dogs.

He was so interested in Kylie that he even spoke about her with his mother. "Mom?" Jack announced at dinner one night, putting down his fork. "I want to ask you something."

Her eyes tightened, obviously expecting a question that dealt with the past that she wanted to forget. "Yes, Jack? Go ahead."

"Is it… is it normal for a mal- I mean, a boy to have a best friend who's a devot- girl?" The words felt like rocks in Jack's mouth, and he longed to speak nadsat-talk to alleviate the burden of trying to talk to his mother.

Her features softened immediately. "Why? Have you made friends with a girl?" Her voice was peppered with amusement.

"Yes," Jack muttered, scraping the peas on his plate into a pile. He positioned his fork to scoop them up in one bite. "She's real horrorshow- I mean, she's a really great droog. I mean, friend." Jack stuffed the peas into his mouth so that it wouldn't have to make any more speech blunders.

"Well, I guess if she's only your friend, it's fine," Jack's mother said lightheartedly. Jack could tell that she was delighted he was talking to her about his current life, which he had been so secretive about up until now. "How did you meet her? What's she like?"

"I met when I was going into the city one morning," Jack said, careful not to give away too many details. "She's really funny and clever, and she knows how to protect herself against any danger. It's pretty cool. She…" Jack searched for the words to describe his friend, and finally ended up with, "She's like a rebel." He had never used the word to describe Kylie before, but it suddenly seemed to fit, although he didn't quite know why.

To Jack's surprise, his mother did not share his enthusiasm about Kylie. "What did you say?" she asked, her tone turning serious all at once as she leaned forward across the table. "What did you call your friend?"

Jack blinked. "Funny, clever… a rebel?"

His mother flinched, and her hands came together, fingernails digging into the skin. "_Don't _say that. Don't say that. She's not a rebel, Jack, and you know it."

Baffled, Jack blurted, "But how would you know?"

His mother seemed to be caught in a torturous dream. Her head began shaking back and forth, and she rocked in her seat, without appearing to realize she was doing it. "Listen to me, Jack. No girl is a true rebel. Do you believe me? No girl is a true rebel!"

Disturbed, Jack set his fork down again. "O-okay, Mom. I get it. No girl is a true rebel."

"No, you don't get it," she said, her hands shaking. "You don't get it." With that, Jack's mother sprung out of her chair and pushed away from the table, knocking the chair over in the process. She stalked away to her bedroom, leaving her dinner to grow cold on the table.

Jack didn't follow his mother to press her and ask why she was so adamantly against the word "rebel" being used to describe his friend. He supposed it was about something in her past that she didn't think he was ready to hear, or maybe she didn't want to think about it herself. That night in bed, Jack imagined his father standing over him, picturing him with his mother. _If Dad had lived, would Mom be happier? Would they be together to this day? Would she have learned to love him? _The silent walls of Jack's bedroom gave no clear response.

Skating down the asphalt street a few days later, Jack's mind was on anything but his mother and her strange, unspoken past. He was looking forward to meeting Kylie on top of the Poacher's Hill in their usual meeting place. If Jack had been paying attention to his surroundings, he would have noticed that the hill that morning did not appear to be the most ideal place for a meeting. Swirling in the air around the hill was an aura of mistrust and coldness, an aura that would drive any ordinary person away. But Jack was so wrapped up in thinking about Kylie that he didn't notice anything amiss.

At the bottom of Poacher's Hill, Jack stopped skating and looked up, squinting his eyes against the sunlight. He had learned not to head right up, in case there were dogs on the hill. Of course, the dogs hadn't made any appearances since that first meeting, but it was best not to take any chances. As Jack cupped his hands together to shade his eyes from the sun, he caught sight of a dark figure moving around on top. "Kylie?" Jack called out, blinking, trying to get a better view. Then the figure split apart, turning into three, and three more dark figures came to join it. Not Kylie. _Dogs._

Immediately, Jack turned tail and began to run, and at that moment the dogs caught sight of him. They raced down the hill, letting loose deep and unnerving barks that frightened Jack to the core. Tripping over his skates, he tried to make it back to the road before the dogs caught up with him. Unfortunately, he was too late. The speedy dogs came closer and closer, and just before Jack's foot hit the blessed asphalt, he felt a set of sharp teeth close over his right arm. Jack screamed as the dog bit into his arm, shaking him viciously as if trying to rip his skin open. Tugging his arm in an attempt to free it only made the pain worsen, and Jack was at the mercy of the dogs as they descended on him, claws scratching at his legs, tearing him to bits…

And then, like a miracle, she came.

"JACK!"

A yowl split the air as a Chinese star whistled towards a dog, embedding itself right between his eyes. Jack, dragged to the ground by the dog that was gnawing on his arm, gave a cry of relief. Kylie was here. He continued to struggle to break free as Kylie raced down the hill on her skates and the dogs' attentions were momentarily diverted. Three of them raced for her; another was wounded and two others were attacking Jack. Kylie hurled her Chinese stars at the dogs, and all of them hit, two in the throat and one in the eye. Finally, she made for the two dogs that were holding Jack down and went to town on them, striking and cutting and pushing and shoving. With a blow to the nose, the dog whose jaws were firmly clamped around Jack's arm released his grip, and Jack weakly crawled away, back to the safety of the asphalt road. He curled up with his arm hanging straight out, blood dribbling onto the dusty road and staining it pink. The pain was so terrible that Jack nearly passed out, but he forced himself to stay conscious in case he needed to help Kylie fight off the dogs and in case of blood loss.

"Jack!" Kylie cried out once more. Jack closed his eyes and let an involuntary moan escape his lips. A minute passed, and then the sound of barking began to fade into the distance. Jack opened his eyes to see Kylie running towards him on her roller skates, the dogs loping away in the opposite direction.

"Jack!" She flung herself to her knees and pressed her hand against his shoulder. "My God, you're hurt… you're bleeding…"

"Kylie," Jack murmured, trying to sit up without putting weight on his injured arm. "Thank you." Kylie helped him up and moved her hand down to rest on his knee as he folded himself into a sitting position, cross-legged, examining his arm. The dog's teeth had sliced right through the skin, puncturing in several places. Blood poured ceaselessly, dripping onto Jack's clothes. Around his ankles, the skin was also scratched in several places. Kylie's grip on Jack's knee tightened as she looked into his eyes, worry scrawled across her face.

"Jack, you're hurt." Her voice was tightly controlled, but Jack could detect shakiness beneath the façade. "We've got to do something… there's a doctor in the city…"

"Kylie," was all Jack could say, again, as he stared numbly at his light pink blood. He couldn't remember ever having a wound as bad is this. A shiver stole over him, and he blinked to meet Kylie's eyes. "Do you think those dogs could have tetanus or rabies or something?" Jack blurted. His mother had warned him of such diseases before they even knew there were dogs in the city.

"I'm not sure," Kylie said, cracks beginning to show in her carefully-constructed voice. "Those are Earthly diseases, but there might be an equivalent for this planet…"

"There's an equivalent for the common cold," Jack said, remembering having the illness in the past. He cringed as pain emanated out from his wound suddenly, eclipsing all the thoughts in his mind. "Aw, sodding hell…"

"You're going to pass out from blood loss if we don't get you to a doctor quickly," Kylie said, a note of hysteria in her voice. She clambered to her feet and held out her hand for Jack to take. "Come on! I'll help you up. We've got to…"

She trailed off as Jack reached out his right hand, attached to the injured arm, and shrank back at once in shock. Her brown eyes widened, and her lips parted in a silent gasp. Jack, confused as to what was shocking Kylie so much, looked down at his arm- and recoiled in horror himself. His arm, which had been deeply cut into just a few moments ago, was starting to sew itself back up before his very eyes.

For several minutes Jack and Kylie stared and said nothing, watching as Jack's injury healed itself. The skin grew back over the opening, and the blood flow slowed to a trickle, and then nothing at all. Soon the only sign that Jack had ever been injured were a few lines, like scars, surrounding his right forearm, and the pink stains of blood on his jeans. The scratches on his legs had disappeared.

Jack was the first to speak. "What the… what the _hell _was that?" Human bodies didn't heal that quickly. Jack had never known his own body to. Or had he…? Trying to remember a specific time that he'd been injured made his head hurt.

Kylie laughed shortly at Jack's verdict. "I have no idea…" She stared first at Jack and then at his arm, a mixture of fear and awe in her eyes. Jack shook his head and wet his lips, pulling his arm back for a closer look. He poked the skin, afraid that it would start bleeding again, but the new skin held fast.

"Your blood… it's not normal-colored either," Kylie murmured. "It's pink…"

"Humans aren't supposed to be able to do this," Jack muttered in a daze. "Humans don't heal this quickly… I, I don't heal that quickly…"

"Are you sure?" Kylie asked, dropping gently to her knees again. "Have you ever been hurt before?"

"Not that badly," Jack said. "But… Kylie…" His voice began to rise in pitch. "This isn't _natural!" _He leaned forward, his breath speeding up and his heart pounding madly.

"Calm down," Kylie said quietly, placing her hands on Jack's shoulders for comfort. She looked into his blue eyes searchingly. "I'm sure if we think about it, we can figure this out."

"But… but…" Jack babbled, lost for words, and then he leaned in the rest of the way and planted his lips firmly on Kylie's mouth, kissing her roughly as his body began to shake. Kylie kissed back, moving her hands to brush the hair at the nape of his neck with her fingers, before pulling away and involuntarily wiping her mouth. Jack scooted away from her, stunned by his own actions. He fumbled for something to say, but only got out an "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Kylie said, everything in her tone suggesting that it truly was okay. "Just calm down, Jack. We'll figure this all out together."

"Okay," Jack said, his mind still on autopilot. He watched blankly at Kylie stood up once more and offered her hand, which Jack then shakily took. After a brief moment of checking to make absolutely sure the dogs weren't coming back, and seeing if his trembling legs still worked, Jack and Kylie took off skating down the road, Jack still clutching Kylie's hand tightly to him like a lifeline.

The two were silent all the while as they skated. Jack's mind was ablaze as he pondered the possible reasons for this shocking development of his body. Before meeting Kylie, Jack had never noticed his first two oddities, that being too-light skin and slightly pointed ears. He had always thought they were normal features for a human to have. Seeing _this, _however, was nothing that he could explain with genetics. It was one thing to attribute his outward appearance to inherited traits from his parents, and another to give them credit for this weird accelerated healing ability that Jack had just discovered.

Though he knew it was a stupid question, Jack had to ask it, just to make sure. He put forth the question in a small voice. "Kylie… when you get a cut or anything… your skin doesn't do that, does it?"

"No," Kylie said soothingly. "It doesn't." She squeezed Jack's hand, and though Jack was almost positive it was an unconscious gesture, he squeezed back. Somehow, knowing that he was different from her in this respect brought them closer together, if such a thing was possible. It was just nice knowing that someone else was as confused as Jack, and that someone else wanted to help him figure out everything as much as possible.

They hadn't gotten very far into Hunger City when the sound of laughter and jeering reached Jack's ears, coming from several very familiar voices. Tearing his hand from Kylie's, Jack rushed wordlessly into an alley, Kylie following behind him, where he encountered all four of the Diamond Dogs and, to his horror, a real dog, the likes of which had just attacked him by Poacher's Hill. The Diamond Dogs had picked up stones and were hurling it at the dog, who was growling, his lips pulled back from his teeth. Jack panicked and hurried towards them, calling out, "Stop it, oh my brothers! Stop it! The dog is dangerous!"

"Hallowe'en Jack!" Dice laughed, beckoning towards him. "Come join in on the ultraviolence!"

"No!" Jack cried. The dog crouched into a hostile position, ready to defend himself against the boys who were attacking him. Jack tried his best to warn the Diamond Dogs.

"Stop fillying with this creature, my brothers! He may not look it, but he will vred you greatly and cause you to snuff it if you continue to like throw these stones!"

"Trust us!" Kylie panted behind Jack. "We just came from a fight against these dogs! We know what they're like!"

Jagger looked up at the sound of Kylie's voice and turned his head towards Jack, laughing in his face. "They are only dogs, my brother Hallowe'en Jack. They are practically harmless! What in Bog's name could-"

He never got to finish the statement, because at that moment the dog leapt forward with a savage bark and Jagger found his question answered. The Diamond Dogs unleashed cries of varying degrees of fear as the dog charged them, yapping away. Jagger drew his knife, but the dog clamped its jaws down over his wrist and tugged so that Jagger had to drop the knife, which fell clattering to the ground. His face twisted in pain and he bent over as the dog let go of his wrist and picked up the knife in its mouth. It again ran murderously at the Diamond Dogs, and this time Sledge made a brave stand against it, rushing forward to plunge his knife into the animal's throat. The dog screamed, in a way that none of the people present had ever heard a dog scream before, and Jack pressed his hands firmly to his ears as fear rocketed through him. At once a deep, harsh voice filled his head. _We will destroy you, filthy Aresian! There is no place on this planet that you can hide! _The dog lumbered back, shaking its head back and forth as if stunned and bleeding from the throat, before turning tail and dashing off.

"Brother, are you all right?" Widdy asked, he and the rest of the Diamond Dogs including Jack running to Jagger's side. Jagger grumbled something that turned into a curse. "Sodding dogs! Of course I'm all right, brothers." He straightened up, and despite his reassurance Jack caught a glint in his eye before he pushed it away, a gleam that suggested Jagger was shaken and all was not well.

It didn't seem like a good time to say "I told you so," and so Jack kept silent, suddenly very aware of Kylie's presence. She didn't seem hesitant around the Diamond Dogs, and was the first to speak up. "I guess I haven't been like introduced to you malchicks yet," she said, sounding like a tried and true Diamond Dog. "I am Kylie, oh my brothers. What are your eemyas?"

The Diamond Dogs blinked in response to Kylie's use of nadsat-talk, Jagger especially, but they didn't comment on it. Jack felt himself swell up with pride.

"I am Jagger, oh my sister," Jagger said, clearly unused to talking to girls. "These are Sledge, Day-viddy-widdy, and No Dice Bryce." Sledge, Widdy, and Dice murmured their hello's.

"It's good to meet you, my brothers," Kylie said. "I have slooshied quite a bit from Jack about you."

Dice and Widdy grinned and elbowed each other, as if to say _"I bet he mentioned us!" _Jagger nodded and turned away from Kylie to skate a bit by himself, wrapping the bottom of his shirt around his injured wrist, and Sledge began wiping the blade of his knife clean. Jack felt his own blood run cold as he glanced at the blood on Sledge's knife. The blood of the dogs wasn't red, as Jack had expected. Instead, the dogs had black blood, dark and sticky like ink. Sledge didn't say anything, though, and Jack wondered if he had been expecting the blood to be discolored.

"Slooshy closely, my brothers," Jagger spoke up, finishing a circle to skate up to the group of boys. "And sister," he added quickly, looking at Kylie. Kylie smiled. "I have something like important to skazat."

"Govoreet away, oh my brother and droogie!" Dice called out with joy. Jagger looked to be suppressing a grin. "All right. I have slooshied slovos in town about tomorrow nochy that bring me great great joy, oh my brothers. There is to be a concert tomorrow."

"Big deal," Sledge began, but Jagger shut him up. "It is a big deal, my brother Sledge, because it is not just any concert. Bog Himself is going to perform tomorrow nochy!"

Widdy and Dice gasped and exclaimed in one voice, "Aladdin Sane!" Sledge mouthed the name to himself with reverence, and Kylie leaned in to Jack's ear to whisper, "Who's Aladdin Sane?"

"Aladdin Sane is our Bog or God out here in the city," Jack explained. "Supposedly He is the creator of rock and roll." Though that couldn't be true, because his father had been a rock and roll singer, and he had lived on Earth before these boys were even born…

"Rock and roll?" Kylie stated, pleasantly surprised. "I love rock and roll!"

Jagger drew everyone's attention back to him. He aimed a smile at Jack that for once wasn't sarcastic or mocking. "As our brother Hallowe'en Jack has not yet had the like experience of viddying the great and powerful Bog perform live, I have decided he must come along with us. It will be a perfect introduction to the sacred and divine power of rock and roll. Will you join us for a nochy of pure ultraviolence, oh my brother?"

Jack thought about it for a short moment. Now that he had begun telling his mother a bit about his time spent in Hunger City, she might let him go to the concert if she knew or thought he would be in good hands. Also, the time was past due for Jack to become acquainted with the power of rock and roll. Not only was he hoping for it to bring the Diamond Dogs' religion to light, but he also hoped to learn more about what his father had done when he was alive by seeing and hearing rock and roll music played live.

"I would love to like accompany you malchickiwicks to viddy and slooshy Bog," Jack told the Diamond Dogs, and they erupted into cheers. On a whim, he added, "Can I bring Kylie, oh my brother Jagger?"

Jagger gave Kylie a once-over with his eyes before responding. "Yes yes yes." Kylie glanced happily over to Jack as Jagger turned away, excitement in her eyes. And Jack felt that somehow, in some way, he had finally earned the respect of Jagger.

"This is going to be quite horrorshow," Kylie said with a smile on her face. "Aren't you excited?"

"Yes, I am," Jack replied. "We'll kupet some drinks and viddy a banda, and jump into the river holding rookers."

"Maybe we can pick up some sharps afterwards," Widdy suggested. He wiggled his eyebrows in Jack's direction. "Our brother Hallowe'en Jack here has not yet like lost his virginity, have you, oh brother?"

Jack cringed- did Widdy have to say such things in front of Kylie? "No, I haven't yet, oh my brother. I have no like intention of doing so recently, either."

Jagger shrugged. "If you change your rassoodock, there's a mattress down in a basement somewhere with your eemya on it. I can privodeet you there."

"Oh, shut your rot," Jack groaned and Kylie giggled raucously. "Jack is just worried that I'm going to get jealous!"

_Am I? _Jack thought, gulping. _Aren't we just friends?_

It was not an official shopping day, and so after a bit of pointless hanging out with the Diamond Dogs, Jack and Kylie split to go to their respective homes. Kylie offered to skate with Jack to the farthest edge of Hunger City, just to make sure he got home all right. Jack was touched by this kind gesture.

Once he was away from the Diamond Dogs, however, all of the confusing thoughts from that morning's dog attack flooded back to Jack. First off, what did the dogs want from him and the other boys? Why were they attacking innocent people? What had those evil-sounding words that he had heard in his mind meant? _We will destroy you, filthy Aresian!_

And secondly, why was it that Jack's body had the ability to recover quickly from its injuries, so that a cut or a gash could barely be seen later on? Jack looked down at his arm just to check and make sure the whole thing had happened, and sure enough, the thin white line blending into his skin proclaimed that he really had been wounded that day. But how in the world had it healed so quickly? And what did that mean for Jack? One possibility stuck out in his mind, but he forced it back quickly. _Don't even go there._

And yet… when the dogs had bitten Jagger, his wound hadn't healed… and Kylie said that her body didn't heal quickly either…

_But I'm no different from anyone else! _

"What are you thinking about?" Kylie asked quietly as they skated.

Not wanting to distress her with his actual thoughts, Jack muttered, "Oh, just irrelevant veshches." He looked up to the darkening sky. "Kylie, when have you slooshied rock and roll music before?"

If Kylie was put out by the use of nadsat-talk, she didn't say anything. "My parents have something called a turntable at our house, which plays vinyl records. These records have music on them, and I've heard a few really great singers."

"I've never even heard music at all," Jack murmured. He had no idea what could possibly be in store for him the following night.

"Wow," Kylie said in disbelief. "That's hard to believe. I mean, I grew up with these albums… Pink Floyd, Ziggy Stardust…"

"Ziggy Stardust?!" Jack blurted, snapping his head towards her.

"What, have you heard of him?"

"Of course I've heard of him," Jack gasped. He stopped skating, and Kylie braked behind him. "He was my father!"

Kylie's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Here," Jack said, shrugging his knapsack off. "I'll show you." He fished around in the knapsack before coming up with the newspaper article about his father. Dropping the knapsack, Jack skated over to Kylie and held the newspaper out to her, watching her face move into a deeper form of shock. BRITISH ROCK MUSICIAN ZIGGY STARDUST MURDERED IN SUFFRAGETTE CITY.

"That's my father," Jack said. "You- you've heard his music? Is it any good?"

"Yes," Kylie murmured, stretching out trembling fingers to brush against the paper, as if she couldn't believe it was real. "My parents… they know a lot about Ziggy Stardust. Apparently they used to know him personally." She looked up into Jack's eyes, and it was now his turn to be shocked.

"Your parents knew my father?" Kylie nodded. _Wow… small world…_

How well had Kylie's parents known Jack's father? Could they tell Jack more about his father than his mother could? Did they know of Jack's existence?

"What's your mother's name?" Kylie asked suddenly.

Without questioning her desire to know, Jack replied, "Haushinka."

_Haushinka, _Kylie mouthed, and her brow furrowed. "Strange, but I could swear I've heard that name before. Maybe my parents knew your mother as well?"

"Well, if they knew my mom, it certainly wasn't through any connection to my dad," Jack said. "I'm a literal bratchny. My mom got pregnant from a one-night-stand."

"Oh," Kylie said softly, rolling her foot back and forth. She reached out and took Jack's hand, and Jack didn't stop her. He needed comfort, someone who would help him sort out this confusion.

"I'll talk to my parents when I get home," Kylie said. "Ask them all about your parents and see what they know. Maybe you can even come over sometime." She grinned, trying to lift Jack's spirits. "It's about time you met my family. You'll like them, I'm sure of it. I know they'll like you."

Jack smiled a small smile back. "After the concert tomorrow night, maybe. After we see the great 'Aladdin Sane.'" He framed the name with his fingertips, and Kylie laughed and darted in to peck him on the lips. Jack's face went warm as Kylie pulled away and let go of his hand, hovering in front of him.

"See you tomorrow, Jack. Watch out for those dogs."

"Goodbye, Kylie." Jack's voice grew thick with barely-concealed worry. "Don't let anything attack you tonight."

Kylie laughed and rolled backwards. "I won't." She turned around and skated off into the distance, and Jack watched her go until she was nothing but a speck in the distance. Then he picked up his knapsack and slung it onto his back, stuffing the newspaper article back in and taking out his Bowie knife to defend himself in case any of the dogs came back.

The sun had set by the time Jack came home, turning the sky orange-colored. Jack entered the house, knowing that his mother usually expected him before sunset and feeling bad about showing up so late, but with the planet's orbit there occasionally wasn't a choice. His mother had already started dinner, and when she heard Jack come in she whirled around, her face pinched with obvious worry before she smoothed it out to give Jack a forced smile. Jack was not fooled, and his spirits sunk low as he remembered how dangerous it was to scare his mother like that. If Jack came home a smidge too late, she would presume him dead. And what would happen after that, Jack didn't want to imagine.

"Hello, Jack," his mother greeted him, and Jack saw her mouth twist with words she left unsaid. She was burning to ask him where he had been all this time, what he had been doing out in Hunger City. But the words that came out were, "How was your day?"

"Good," Jack answered automatically, though the more fitting descriptions would be _confusing, frightening, _and _freaky. _He went to the kitchen area to help his mother finish making dinner. As he worked, questions popped into his head, questions that he felt only his mother could answer. _Why is my body suited for healing much faster than any normal human's? How have I not known this before, and why didn't you tell me I was different?_

He tried not to sigh and give anything away. Jack's mother would surely ask him what was wrong, and Jack wasn't ready for her own curiosity. He needed his to be sated first.

They sat down together to eat dinner, Jack's mother on one side of the table and Jack on the other, and just as his mother was about to take her first bite of the meal, Jack spoke up. "Mom, can you take a look at this?"

His mother paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. "What is it, Jack?"

In answer, Jack held his right arm out, stretching it across the table. His mother set her fork down and leaned in for a closer view, and the fingers on Jack's left hand traced the barely-visible white line of skin that had grown over the wound given to him by the dog pack that day. "Look."

"What am I looking at?" Jack's mother asked, her hair falling from behind her ears to tickle his skin. "Did you get hurt there?" She brushed the invisible scar with her fingers, and felt the raised skin as she did so.

"I did get hurt," Jack commented. "Pretty badly too, in fact. But after about a minute, maybe more- I wasn't counting- the wound closed right up just like that. Isn't that weird?" He tried to make his voice sound as casual as possible, but he knew that his mother knew he was grilling her. "I didn't know wounds could heal that quickly."

Jack's mother straightened up and pushed her hair back behind her ears, hurriedly. "What's your point?" As soon as the words had left her mouth, Jack could see that his mother wished she could take them back, wished that she had worded her query more carefully. _What's your point _was a bit too dismissive, suggesting that what Jack knew to be an abnormal occurrence was in fact quite natural. She realized that she couldn't play that angle, but it was too late now- the phrase had been said.

"My point is that I'm kind of confused now," Jack said, playing dumb for a bit. "I mean, when you get cut your wounds don't heal that quickly. Why do mine do that?"

His mother seized upon the opportunity to tell a lie. "Well, not all human bodies are the same, Jack. Our healing acceleration is no different. It could have to do with a number of factors, including your gender, race, size…" She trailed off, and Jack could hear the near imperceptible way she had lingered on _race. _A plummeting feeling built in the pit of his stomach.

"Why- why am I different?" Jack asked, desperately longing for a real answer to his long-unasked question. Already the pieces were starting to fall into place in his head, and he fought against the conclusion that was coming to light. _NO…_

"Oh, Jack, you're no different from anyone else," his mother said sweetly, but her grip on calmness was wearing thin. "Don't let anyone tell you you're not. You're my son, and I love you."

But love would do nothing to solve Jack's problems. He stood up suddenly, flinging the chair violently away from the table. "I don't want your love or your lies, Mom!" Jack cried, slamming his fist against the table. "I want the truth!" His mother's expression cracked, and Jack turned around and ran blindly to the spiral staircase that would take him up to the very top of the building, up to his bedroom.

It was a relief when Jack finally got to his room. He dropped onto the bed, panting from having run up so many flights of stairs. Anger stirred in him, and Jack rolled over and pressed his face into his pillow, screaming at the very top of his voice. He had since learned from the past that it was best to muffle his voice when he was angry, because the shrill pitch of his rage-filled shrieks was powerful enough to shatter glass and burst his mother's eardrums. Even muffled, the walls seemed to tremble with the force of Jack's yell. He couldn't remember having ever been so angry and frustrated before.

Jack didn't scream again, as he was still out of breath from running up the stairs. He rolled onto his back once more and settled his hands on his stomach, closing his eyes and breathing out in a quick rush. _Calm down… _There was no use in moaning and carrying on about something that Jack couldn't change. And yet he wished to throw a tantrum that would make his mother take notice, realize how serious he was about this, and come up to his room to tell him everything. But when Jack listened closely, there was no sign of movement from the bottom floor. His mother either didn't know or didn't care that he was upset with her.

Peeling off his eyepatch and blinking in the dark, Jack waited for a few moments until his breathing went back to normal and his heartbeat had calmed. He still wanted to punch someone in the face, though. What right did his mother have to lie to him and tell him that he was a perfectly normal human, when all the signs- the light skin that Kylie had remarked on, the pointed ears that had shocked her so, the self-healing wound, for Bog or God's sake- pointed to the opposite verdict? What did his mother think she could gain by lying to Jack? What was she protecting him from?

Jack sighed slowly and turned onto his side, grabbing his knapsack from the place where he'd flung it on the floor. He sat up in bed and unsheathed his Bowie knife, wanting to test that odd healing power again. Maybe today had just been a fluke. Jack switched the light on in his room, flipping on the lamp by his bedside table, and then dug his knife into his index finger, swallowing back a whimper of pain. He watched as the blood dripped out of the little nick he had made, pink droplets soaking into his white bedsheets. And then it happened again. As Jack watched curiously, the small cut on his finger, no bigger than a papercut, began to close up by itself. The skin grew back together and the wound disappeared from sight completely. Jack prodded his headboard with the finger he had just cut- the skin showed no intention of giving way and opening back up. Breathing hard now, Jack dropped his hand and backed against the headboard, staring out at his room and starting to come to terms with what had to be the truth. He wasn't human.

Nothing added up in Jack's mind. His mother was obviously a human, and his father looked like a human. Neither of them looked like the Mercurians that Kylie had described to Jack or the mysterious Saviors of the planet Earth whom Jack could barely remember, so he couldn't be related to them. But there was no way Jack was human, not after what he had seen his body do that day. And then the evil voice that had filled his head during the second fight with the dog that day came back to Jack. _We will destroy you, filthy Aresian! _None of the Diamond Dogs nor Kylie had given any indication that they'd heard the message, so it must have been meant for Jack alone. What was an Aresian? Was it another race of people from a different planet that Jack had never heard of? Could, perhaps, the voice have been referring to this planet without a name? But Jack couldn't be native to this planet, as he did have memories of the travel through space to arrive here.

Could his mother be lying when she said she was a human? Thinking over it, Jack realized that was probably not the case. Every person that Jack had ever met had darker skin than his and rounded rather than pointed ears, and his mother's wounds, whenever she got them, had always taken a while to heal. Obviously his mother was a human, as these traits differed from her son's who was not, and so the only explanation that Jack could see was that his mysterious father Ziggy Stardust, the one who had been a rock musician, whose music Kylie liked and who had died on Earth, had not been human. What creature he was, however, was a mystery. Aresian maybe? Or maybe rock and roll musicians really were Gods, and Jack's father, being one of them, was no exception. Again, what even was an Aresian? And who had been threatening Jack, anyway? Was it the dog?

Puzzled by these endless questions, Jack curled up beneath the covers in bed, curving into a ball. He decided to wait for the morning to see if any of his questions would get answered. His mother, of course, would say nothing more on the subject, and so Jack couldn't go to her for advice. Maybe the concert would bring him some relief from this confusion, and maybe talking with Kylie's parents, who had known Jack's father, would straighten everything out once and for all.


	9. Chapter 9

After their altercation at dinner, Jack felt uneasy about speaking to his mother again. However, he knew that the only way he could go to see Bog's concert would be if he got permission from her, so that she knew where he was. As a result, Jack waited a while in his room before getting up, just to make sure his mother was awake before him. When he heard the banging of pots and pans in the kitchen down below, he fastened on his eyepatch, grabbed his knapsack and, slinging it over one arm, walked out to the landing outside of his room, where he sat down on the banister and made ready to slide down it.

At the bottom of the stairs, Jack's mother turned around in the middle of frying an egg as Jack landed with a bump. "Oh, Jack," she said, sighing. "Why do you always slide down?"

"Well, the elevator's broken," Jack muttered, "and it's a good way to dust." He went over to the table and sat down, watching his mother's eyes. She didn't seem to be annoyed or nervous about his presence, but Jack, though he was good at reading people, could never completely tell with his mother. Just in case, he decided to hold his breath and wait and help her cook the eggs before asking if he could go to the concert that night.

They worked in silence, making breakfast together, and Jack could feel that all was not well with his mother. If she spoke, he felt it would be in icy, clipped tones. Something had disturbed his mother's tortured peace, something having to do with what Jack had brought up the night before, and it was interfering with her functionality. Jack hoped he hadn't triggered anything that was dangerous to dredge up, but he knew so little about his mother's past that he couldn't help but step on a few toes when talking to her.

_I'll wait a bit longer, _Jack made up his mind. After scraping the finished scrambled eggs onto their plates, sitting down, and eating half of it, Jack worked up the nerve to broach the subject of the concert to his mother. "Um. Tonight there's going to be a rock and roll concert in town, and I want to go."

His mother pierced him with her inscrutable brown eyes. "Rock and roll? Why?"

"Well, I'm interested in hearing music for the first time…" Jack was about to add "like my father's" but decided against it. "And I have a few friends who are going."

His mother narrowed her eyes. _Friends. _"Like this girl friend you have?"

"Yeah, she's going. Mainly it's guys, though. I don't think we need like tickets or anything, and I don't know when it's going to happen… I just know it's late, and I might not be home tonight."

At the last sentence, Jack's mother hissed, "_Jack. _If you go to this concert, you have to promise me you won't get into any danger or trouble." She grabbed him by the arm. "Promise!"

Jack swallowed. "I promise, Mom. I'll be in good hands." They stared at each other until Jack's mother released her grip.

As he approached Poacher's Hill that morning, Jack began to fear that there might be dogs on it, just as it had been so the day before. However, he was in luck, for the only living being atop the hill was Kylie, smiling down at him. Jack blinked as he scaled Poacher's Hill, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him. Instead of her usual black leather attire, Kylie was wearing… a dress, floral print, with a skirt that billowed out elegantly from her waist. The sun hit a shiny broach pinned to her bosom and danced off of it at high angles. Kylie spun around in a circle to show it off from all angles as Jack came the rest of the way up the hill.

"Wow," Jack said as he approached. It was the only thing he could think of to say. "What's the occasion?"

"The concert tonight of course, silly," Kylie said mock-reproachfully. She put her hands on her hips and thrust her body forward into the light for Jack to closely examine. "What do you think?"

"It's pretty," Jack said, surprised. "I'd have never imagined you in a dress."

"We all have hidden depths," Kylie smiled. Moving forward, she placed her hands on Jack's shoulders and pressed her red-lipsticked lips gently to his. For Jack, this third kiss was different from the first two that he had shared with Kylie. This kiss was slower and lasted longer, different from the rough, needy kiss that Jack had given Kylie out of confusion and the hasty woodpecker-peck that Kylie had given Jack in parting. Now both of the teenagers were more confident about what to do, and they moved their lips in sync, fire licking over their bodies. Jack shuddered slightly as he felt Kylie's tongue move towards his locked teeth. He broke away, gasping for air, and his hands flew to his warm cheeks. Kylie crossed her hands behind her back.

"What are you doing?" Jack mumbled, half to himself.

"I don't know," Kylie said, "but you started it." They stared at each other before Kylie gave Jack a tentative smile, most likely wondering if she'd been too bold, and Jack returned it strongly.

"I didn't mean to do that, yesterday," Jack murmured, thinking out loud. "I'm sorry if…"

"Oh, that's all right," Kylie said. "I didn't mind. I knew you were scared, and… you needed me." She suddenly shook off her serious tone with an even wider grin. "So, are you like, my _boooyyyfriend _or something?"

Jack rolled his eyes at Kylie's goofy tone. "If that means _friend who's a boy, _yes."

Kylie laughed wildly and spun around again. When she came back to face Jack, she grabbed his hands and tugged him towards her. They spun around in a wide circle together until Kylie let go and Jack tottered backwards, trying not to fall down on his butt.

"What was that for?" Jack gasped.

"No reason," Kylie said nonchalantly. She stood before him, baring her flower-patterned body, and Jack suddenly felt a longing to initiate contact again, instead of waiting for her to touch him. As a friend in black leather, Kylie had already been stunning. As what was possibly a girlfriend in a dress, she was an absolute knockout.

Jack went forward with little hesitation and kissed Kylie again, once on the lips, a soft kiss, sweeter than the past three altogether. When he pulled away, both he and Kylie were smiling.

"Friends with benefits?" she suggested. Jack felt his smile grow even wider. "Yes, friends with benefits." They took each other's hands and walked down to the other side of the hill, gazing upon Hunger City with fresh young eyes. Jack spoke the words that would start everything, his favorite words in the world. "Let's skate."

They spent the entire day out in Hunger City together, away from the Diamond Dogs. All around them, it seemed that the entire city itself was preparing for some big event, the concert that was to happen that night, although such things were nothing new. Kylie and Jack took in each new sight happily, joy connecting them together and keeping them alive. There were no shops to steal from now. The only point of this wandering was to enjoy themselves, and enjoy themselves they did.

"Jack," Kylie said once while they were skating together. "I talked to my parents last night, and… I think I have a few answers to your questions."

Jack cocked his head. "Yeah? Like what?"

"Well," said Kylie, "apparently they were well-acquainted with your father during the last days of Earth's existence. They were friends with another singer, Pink Floyd, who in turn was friends with your dad. The two singers helped my parents a lot back in the day, but that's all that my dad told me. Oh, and he also explained where I've heard your mother's name before- apparently during the third-to-last year of Earth's life, my dad went off to find your mom, apparently because he had been told to by Pink Floyd and because he was interested in her offspring- that means you. He asked if she would come with him to stay with our family for a while, but she refused." Kylie glanced sideways at Jack, watching as he took the information in. "My parents really want to meet you now. I've made arrangements for after the concert, if we don't end up staying out too late."

"Hm," was all Jack said, and then he asked, "Kylie? When were you born?"

"The Earthly month of September," Kylie said. "What about you?"

"October, as far as I know," Jack said. "Apparently I was born past the due date or something. My mom said she wasn't really keeping track of time because she had so much else on her mind." He paused as they turned a corner together, and then said, "I'm glad that you're older than me. It makes me feel… important." He coughed. "And… free."

Kylie laughed. "Don't speak in riddles, Jack."

"I'm not trying to," he said sincerely, feigning hurt feelings.

They had a few races for the rest of the day, and Jack let Kylie win every one of them, until she caught on to what he was doing and began to let him win a few. They were laughing about it by the time the sun began to set, and Jack murmured, "I think we'd better go find the Diamond Dogs." They skated off, hand in hand.

It didn't take long to find the Diamond Dogs, mostly because the Diamond Dogs were very conspicuous. Jagger was the first to come forward, melting out of the shadows, laughing as he beckoned Widdy, Dice, and Sledge forward. Jack and Kylie stopped, Jack's eyes glued to Jagger as he was unable to stop staring. Jagger's fur coat that he normally wore was now encrusted with jewels. Pins like Kylie's broach, long strings of pearls down his neck, and a few baubles here and there adorned him. He also sported a white bandage wrapped around his wrist from where the dog had bitten him the day before. Jack found himself trying not to laugh along with Jagger- _'Tis not quite so horrorshow an outfit, oh my brother!_

"Hi hi hi there, Hallowe'en Jack!" Jagger called, his voice oozing with delight. "Hi hi hi there, Kylie! Come over here and viddy my fancy and like expensive jewelry, oh my brother and sister!"

"Real horrorshow, my droogie Jagger!" Jack called out, telling a white lie. As Jagger skated over and presented himself to Kylie and Jack, proudly displaying his jewelry and puffing out his chest like a peacock, the other three boys came forward to join the group. Sledge was smoking a cigarette with a hardened expression on his face, and Widdy and Dice wore matching excited grins. They carried with them another fur coat, one that resembled Jagger's without the broaches. Widdy skated forward and presented the coat to Jack.

"Here is a (gift), oh my brother and droog Hallowe'en Jack," he said in as solemn as a voice as he could muster, but with a grin that stretched from ear to ear on his face. "We decided it was time for you to look like a Diamond Dog as well as sound like one." Dice looked on happily as Jack shrugged his knapsack off, handed it to Kylie, and then slipped the fur coat on. He wrapped his arms around himself, cuddling the jacket, and nodded at Widdy in approval. "It fits like a dream, my brother."

"I helped pick it out!" Dice couldn't help exclaiming, and Widdy laughed. "It was a like joint decision, oh my brother." He rolled back to give Dice a playful tousle of hair, which made Dice scowl and lean in to prepare to scuffle.

"So," Jagger said, still smiling happily and letting his gaze drift from the content Kylie to the warm Jack to the smoking Sledge to the tussling Widdy and Dice. "Brothers! Day-viddy-widdy and No Dice Bryce, we are ittying now! You must (follow) us! To the Hole In The Wall!"

With that, Jagger took off on his skates, and the entire group of Diamond Dogs followed- Jack, Kylie, Widdy, Dice, and Sledge. As they skated as one huge pack in the direction of the Hole In The Wall, Dice took the moment to whisper conspiratorially in Jack's ear, "We are going to viddy Bog, brother! A veck the likes of whom you've never viddied in your wildest dreams!"

"The first time is always the best," Widdy said cheerfully. "Nothing can beat viddying Bog Himself for the first time and slooshying his lovely lovely music."

Jack hoped that Bog Himself could life up to the hype.

Down at the Hole In The Wall, the place was packed with people waiting to get in. Jack felt as if he was smothering among all of the bodies, and kept a firm grip on Kylie's hand. Jagger pushed the Diamond Dogs' way through the crowd, ignoring the shaking of fists, the flipping of birds, and the curses of "You Diamond Dogs! I'll get you after this!" Soon they stood at the very front of the line, and Jagger managed to sweet-talk his way into the Hole In The Wall with little trouble. Just before they went in, Jagger gathered his group of boys together and gave them a talk about staying safe, for Jack and Kylie's benefit.

"When you order a drink, which every lewdy here does, no questions asked, ask for either a Shirley Temple or an Arnold Palmer on the rocks. It will sound all like official but the drinks contain no alcohol. Of course, you will have to watch very very closely when the bartender is like mixing them to viddy if he slips any alcohol in or not. If anyone here recognizes you from shop-crasting and starts a fight, out out out, right away. We do not want to end our nochy of worship by being loveted. Above all, no one must touch the great and powerful Bog, and no one must get up on the stage with him. It is wrong to be so close to a veck like him."

"Wow," Kylie said, taking it all in. "I didn't know there would be rules to follow tonight."

Jagger smiled, showing the white gleam of his teeth. "When are there not? Come along, brothers and my sister." He pushed the door open. "Come into the Hole In The Wall!" And so Jack, not knowing what in the world he was getting himself into, walked through the door and stared in awe at the sight before him.

The Hole In The Wall, as its name would suggest, was a tiny place, with thin brick walls and a long, sloping floor that led up to a stage, just barely wide enough to fit a drum kit and amps. As soon as the Diamond Dogs caught sight of the amps and drums, they marked themselves in a fashion that Jack had used to mark himself with the cross when he had been a Christian. To the left was a bar, with each round stool packed and the counter overflowing with drinks as older men sat around, discussing their glory days on the planet Earth with anyone who would listen. The place was packed wall to wall with already-sweaty bodies.

The Diamond Dogs were naturals at navigating the place, and while Jack balked at the idea of such a daunting task, they shoved their way through the crowd until they found a spot ready to be relinquished at the front of the stage. Holding onto Kylie, Jack began to follow them, and then frowned as he was pulled back by Kylie's hand. Craning his neck around, Jack saw that Kylie had gotten her dress caught on the doorframe, in some way or another. A second later, Kylie lunged forward and Jack heard the unmistakable _riiip _of fabric tearing off.

"Oh, Kylie," Jack cried forlornly. "You've torn your dress!"

"So I have," she murmured, smoothing it down. "Dammit! It's not in a noticeable place, is it Jack?"

Jack stared at Kylie's body for a few moments before replying. The rip was at the very bottom of her dress, splitting it up the back, and Jack could almost see the pale, perfectly bare legs beneath… His face went hot with embarrassment immediately, and he shook his head at Kylie. "No, it's not."

"Come on, my brothers!" Sledge's voice sounded from the front of the stage. "We haven't got all nochy to stand around waiting! Come here and let's kupet some drinks."

"Kupet?" Jack stated as he moved slouchingly through the crowd, Kylie following behind him. She whipped off her black jacket and tied it around her waist to cover the tear in her dress. Sledge, Widdy, Dice, and Jagger stood waiting for them, Sledge with Widdy and Dice under his arms, who were both grinning eagerly with ecstatic energy, and Jagger with his back to the rest of the Diamond Dogs, chatting excitedly with a few other patrons of the nightclub.

Jack tapped Sledge on the arm. "Brother Sledge, I did not know we would need pretty polly to kupet our drinks."

Sledge scoffed at Jack's naivety. "We do not need any pretty polly at all! We kupet our drinks with veshches that we've crasted." To demonstrate, he sauntered up to the counter and pushed two people sitting there aside, calling out, "Bartender!"

The bartender emerged from behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron. "What is it, young man? What can I do for you?"

"I would like to order a Shirley Temple, oh my brother," Sledge said to the man. "Leave the alcohol out of it."

The bartender nodded. "And what will you give me for it?"

In answer, Sledge reached into his pockets and fished out a bracelet made of pearls. The bartender took it with a greedy eye. "Mm, not bad, my young man. The pearls are surely fake, but no one I do trade with will know the difference." He winked at Sledge, who nodded back, once. As soon as the bartender's back was turned, Sledge motioned for Jack and Kylie to come forward. "It is very simple, oh my malenky brother and sister. All you have to do is keep a close glazzy on the bartender veck as he mixes the drinks. Occasionally he like forgets what one ordered and slips some alcohol in there anyway. If you viddy him doing this to your drink, call him out on it." Sledge patted Kylie and Jack's shoulders. "You pony, my brother and my sister? Can I leave like the two of you alone?"

"Yes, oh my brother," Jack said. "I think we've gotten it all like worked out for now." At that moment the bartender returned with Sledge's drink, and he winked and took the drink and swirled off back into the crowd of people. Jack let go of Kylie's hand in order to gain a seat at the counter. He tapped the person in the stool that Sledge had pushed aside on the shoulder. "Excuse me…"

The person turned his head in Jack's direction, and Jack recoiled in horror, choking a scream down his throat. This person was quite clearly inhuman. His eyes were deep and sunken and lacked pupils, and his face was green and covered in scales. Instead of a nose, this person had two holes above his lipless mouth, from which Jack could see small, pointed teeth gnashing together. He was wearing human-like clothes, but the hand that was wrapped around a drinking glass on the counter was no hand, instead a flipper with tiny, sharp-looking claws attached to a few points at even intervals. Just as Jack was about to back away quickly from this shocking sight, a voice rang in his ears.

"No need to be poogly, oh my brother," Jagger murmured, placing his hands on Jack's shoulders from behind. "The Hole In The Wall gets all sorts around here. This man is a Mercurian."

"I told you about them, Jack," Kylie said. "You remember?"

"Of course I remember," Jack snapped, shaking Jagger's hands off of him. Now that he had been reminded of the Mercurians, he was embarrassed by his utterly irrational fear. This man was from another planet- there was nothing about him to be afraid of. Jack was about to blurt an apology to the Mercurian, but the man had turned lazily turned his head back to his drink. If the Mercurian had had pupils, thus making it easier for Jack to read him, Jack felt he would have detected hopelessness and dejection in the way he sipped his drink.

Jagger blended back into the crowd to talk with some more friends of his, and Jack, not to be deterred by momentary fright, made his way back up to the counter and called the bartender to him. The bartender's beady eyes scrutinized Jack's face- a new customer. "Well, what'll you have?"

"An Arnold Palmer on the rocks, my brother," Jack said, and then whispered in Kylie's ear, "What would you like?"

"A Shirley Temple," she directed her order to the bartender. He leaned his elbows forward on the counter. "Well now, and what'll you give me for it?"

Jack tossed his knapsack off and searched through its contents. The newspaper article about his mysterious father was one item that simply could not leave his bag, no more than his Bowie knife could. That left nothing but the tube of sunscreen- Jack had ditched the Bible ever since his Diamond Dog friends had told him about Bog. He made a note in his head to steal more the next day, and handed the sunscreen over.

The bartender examined the tube of sunscreen with wary eyes. "Hm. Don't know what I could possibly use this for, but it'll do, I guess. And you?" he asked Kylie. With trepidation, Kylie unpinned the broach from her dress and handed it over to the bartender, who smiled at the object. "Fancy little thing, eh!" He pocketed the sunscreen and broach and went over to pour Jack and Kylie their drinks. Jack kept a close eye on the bartender, but his hand never once poured anything unknown into the glasses. As far as Jack could tell, an Arnold Palmer was made up of iced tea and some yellow liquid, and a Shirley Temple was red colored soda water, probably cherry flavored. The bartender passed the drinks to Jack and Kylie, and they clinked glasses in a toast- "To life, and to the great and powerful Bog"- before taking a sip.

Still more people filed into the Hole In The Wall, until there was absolutely no room to move. Jack and Kylie sat in silence as the voices of the people grew louder and louder, basking in the warmth of each other. Jack felt that even without the promise of Bog and a concert, he would have been completely happy to sit next to Kylie, finishing his drink and chatting casually all night. Eventually, though, the revelries had to end, or at least transition into far greater ones. "Hallowe'en Jack!" Jagger shouted above the din of the nightclub, gesticulating in his direction. "Sister Kylie! Come come come! Aladdin Sane-" Jack saw Widdy, Dice, and Sledge mouthing the name along with him- "is about the take the stage!"

"Let's go," Jack murmured, though he couldn't hear himself for the voices of the other people swirling around him, and hopped off the stool he had found himself sitting on, leaving his drink behind. He grabbed Kylie's hand and plunged into the throng of people, pushing and shoving until they had joined the Diamond Dogs at the front of the stage.

Jagger was cheering wildly, punching the air, as Jack sidled up next to him. "Do you know what this is, my brother?" he screamed in Jack's ear. "This is the greatest moment of your jeezny!"

Jack smiled fondly at Jagger and clutched Kylie's hand tighter. At once the lights of the Hole In The Wall went down, and every person within cheered ecstatically. Jagger began a chant that all of the concertgoers took up, sounding possessed- "Aladdin Sane! _Aladdin Sane! ALADDIN SANE!"_

In the darkness, Jack could almost feel Kylie's pulse beating through his hand. Cheers rose up from behind and around him- the concertgoers had spotted the people they had come to see. They were familiar with the routine. Jack had to strain his eyes to just barely make out the shapes of humans onstage, slipping behind the drum kit, taking up guitars in their arms. Suddenly the lights flashed back on, though not the house lights. The multicolored stage lights had turned on, bathing the backing band in white. Screams rocketed through the Hole In The Wall, so loud that Jack could barely hear it when the instrumentalists began the first song. And then Aladdin Sane, the great Bog Himself, walked out onto the stage.

Widdy and Dice fell to their knees at the sight of Bog, overcome by the gloriousness of their God. Sledge clasped his hands together and moved his lips in a silent prayer, and Jagger made the sign of the cross, or whatever the sign was, again, grinning so hard it seemed that his face would crack. Jack could only stare, forgetting the touch of Kylie's hand in his, forgetting the noise of the crowd all around him. He could only watch as Aladdin Sane, a stick-thin, pale white man with long, rusty brown hair combed behind his pointed ears, weaved his way to the microphone and clasped it in both hands, staring at the crowd as if he was about to murder someone. And then he opened his mouth and began to sing, and Jack had never heard anything like it.

Well… in retrospect, he had heard something like this before. A memory came flashing back to Jack- that first day he had spent with the Diamond Dogs, when the boys had joined hands and begun singing a song in high-pitched, wailing sort of voices. This was the song they had been singing, the wordless tune that had chilled Jack to the bone. Aladdin Sane now keened into the microphone, his voice nearly at a screeching pitch. Behind him, the drums crashed loudly, cymbals banging every few seconds, and beside him the bass throbbed and the guitar screamed away on top of his voice. The crowd surged forward as one being, so that Jack was now glued to the front of the stage, directly beneath Aladdin Sane's microphone, the noise so loud he thought his head would split open. The Diamond Dogs began to bounce up and down on their feet, and the rhythm was so infectious that Jack caught on to it and jumped along with them, Kylie bobbing up and down too as she held Jack's hand. The whole floor took to the dance and bounced right along with the front row, and a war began between the noise of the crowd and the sweet sound of music. Jack thought the song would never end.

But then, abruptly, it did end, and Aladdin Sane's voice dropped out of the song as the instruments quieted and drew to a close. For a few moments, the crowd noise was all that filled the Hole In The Wall, before Aladdin Sane, who had been leaning his head on the microphone, pulled back suddenly and yelled the first words Jack had heard him speak. "This ain't rock and roll! THIS IS GENOCIDE!"

The audience cheered loudly in response to Aladdin Sane's words, seemingly overjoyed, though Jack didn't think the word "genocide" invited such happiness. The drums began a beat, and for a few moments there was nothing but drums before the guitar, bass, and vocals came crashing back into a more upbeat tune, and Aladdin Sane sang as if he was in anguish and his life depended on it.

The words sung by Aladdin Sane were at once familiar and unfamiliar to Jack. Sprinkled here and there were a few words in the Earthly language that Jack and all the other humans he knew personally spoke, but they were few and far apart and ultimately served no purpose in the song's meaning. The bulk of the words were, to Jack's slight surprise, all nadsat-talk, more words in that language than even the Diamond Dogs spoke. Aladdin Sane also pronounced the words differently than the Diamond Dogs did, with an accent that suggested he was a native speaker. Language of Bog, indeed- Jack could barely understand the lyrics of the song, although he had been speaking nadsat-talk for about a month now.

Not that the lyrics mattered in the least, however. What was important about the music of Aladdin Sane was the overall feel and sound of it- the banging drums, the whining guitar, and deep thrums of the bass, and of course Aladdin Sane's powerful, desperate vocals, overpowering everything else. Jack didn't care what the hell he was singing about, as long as it continued to sound just as amazing.

Gladly, the rest of the night did not disappoint. Jack, Kylie, the rest of the Diamond Dogs, the alcohol-addled Mercurians, all of the other members of the audience, and even the bartender kept on their feet, shouting and clapping and leaping up and down throughout the rest of the night. Bottles of beer were passed through the crowd (though none of the Diamond Dogs nor Kylie partook in it), rousing them even more. Jack felt as if the entire congregation of the nightclub had become one entity, breathing and moving as one. Concertgoers were slammed against the sweat-dripping walls, but none of them complained, only cried out in ecstasy as if the hard touch of the brick was a loving embrace.

For Aladdin Sane's part, he never once acknowledged the rowdy crowd, though his bandmates gave them smiles and nods several times. His eyes were glazed and seemed more interested in staring at the wall behind his fans than at the fans themselves. The way he moved onstage was like a man possessed; he cradled the microphone to him, held onto it as if it was his lifeline, twisted under the force of imaginary blows. To Jack, it seemed that Aladdin Sane was trying to ward off demons with his singing, and knew it was failing. At one point, the man pressed the microphone so close to his face that his lips were centimeters away from kissing it, and he howled the only other line in the Earthly language that Jack would hear him sing that night- "Will you see that I'm scared and I'm lonely?!" The microphone did not take kindly to this mistreatment, giving a loud blast of feedback, but the audience raved in response.

Only once that night did Aladdin Sane's eyes latch onto anything other than the wall at the far end of the nightclub. As a song was cooling off and Jack was slowing down in his dance, breathing hard, Aladdin Sane, who had sunk to his knees on the stage with his spindly fingers still coiled around the microphone stand, leaned over the audience and swung his open, unseeing eyes towards Jack's face. Jack felt his heart flutter again as he stared into Aladdin Sane's eyes and the man seemed to acknowledge him for the first time. It was dusky in the nightclub, but Jack could tell that Aladdin Sane's eyes were blue, just like his and just like his father's. _His father's… _Jack was struck by a shocked feeling as Aladdin Sane straightened back up and took up the microphone once again for the next song. He paid close attention to Aladdin Sane's body, watching as he moved. The gauntness… the ears that came to delicate points… the skin as pale as chalk… It all suddenly added up in Jack's mind. This man was of the same race as his father's. He was no human, but from the same planet that Jack's father was from.

For a moment a ludicrous idea passed through Jack's mind… but he saw Aladdin Sane's eyes in his mind's eye, and both pupils had been dilated to the normal size. The telltale mark was not there.

The concert continued far into the night, until Jack began to feel that it would never end. For the moment, he couldn't care less. He had seen Bog and lived to tell the tale. He and his friends were in their place of worship. The night was still young, and Jack could stay out as long as he wished. He never wanted to go home again.

All good things must come to an end eventually, however. The longest song of the night was also the last, and the enigma that had been Aladdin Sane was the first to leave the stage, as many concertgoers screamed and booed, wanting their messiah to get back where he belonged. The backing band wrapped up the song quickly and left, and all at once the motion of the crowd split up and became erratic again, one turning back into many. Jack's first instinct was to look at Kylie. He could barely speak, for he had been yelling so joyously that his throat was now rubbed raw, and had to clear his throat a few times before he could make his voice heard. "Did you like it?"

She turned towards him, and Jack was struck by the sight of twin black lines of mascara and eye shadow running from each eye. Kylie had been crying. For what reason? Alarmed, Jack covered his emotion by laughing at Kylie and declaring, "Your face is a mess!"

Kylie rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Yes, because that's what every girl wants to hear," her voice just as rough as Jack's was. She raised a hand to her face and turned away from Jack, wiping her eyes. It was obvious that she was embarrassed to have been caught crying, but somehow it made her even more beautiful to Jack when her makeup was smeared. He put an arm around Kylie, and she didn't move away. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Kylie breathed. "A little tired. You wanna get out of here and head over to my place? You could meet my parents… have some of your questions answered."

Jack mustered up the energy to shake his head and murmur, "I don't know…" Aladdin Sane's face was still fresh in his mind and, now that the driving music wasn't crowding his head, Jack could think more clearly about his revelation. This man had not looked human, and he had resembled Jack's father so much that they were obviously from the same planet. Seeing another one of Jack's kind had proved to him, at last, that he was not human, and his father hadn't been either.

The only questions that still lingered in Jack's mind were why would his mother not tell him something so important, and what did Kylie's parents have to do with his father? What did they know that Jack didn't? Of course, Jack knew so little about his father- up until that day he hadn't even known he was from another planet- that even the most trivial information was important to Jack. He would have loved to go along with Kylie and meet her parents and find out all he could about his mysterious father. But on the other hand, it was later than Jack had realized, and he was getting tired, and didn't want to speak to Kylie's parents when his entire mind wasn't into it.

Besides, there was something else that Jack had in mind to do for the rest of the night. He just needed Kylie to agree to it.

The Diamond Dogs broke in on Jack's contemplation, laughing and cheering and singing all at once. "Oh my brother Hallowe'en Jack and my sister Kylie!" Jagger cried out, rushing up through the bodies of exiting concertgoers to stick his face directly into Jack's. Behind him, Dice and Widdy stood with arms locked together, wearing shaken but weary smiles, and even Sledge had a faint grin on his face as he wiped sweat away. Seeing the gleaming faces of the Diamond Dogs made Jack aware of his own heat, and he removed the stifling fur coat that Widdy had given him and tied it around his waist as he had seen Kylie do.

"Was that not the most incredible, horrorshow veshch you have ever viddied in all your jeezny, oh my brother and my sister?" Jagger cried, slapping Jack and Kylie on the shoulder. Jack nodded, returning the smile, and Kylie shrugged, though her face lit up as well. Jagger let go and cheered once again, as if trying to incite the revelries to begin again. "Nothing in the world is greater than viddying and slooshying the great and powerful Bog! No veck on this planet is greater than-"

"Aladdin Sane," Widdy, Dice, Sledge, Jack, and Kylie chorused. Jagger shot them a knowing smile. "I viddy that you have like learned, my brother and my sister."

"Yes," Jack said as the crowd continued to disperse around them. "Oh my brother Jagger, I thank you very much for taking me and Kylie here. It was…" He fumbled for an adjective stronger than "horrorshow." "It was amazing."

"I loved it," Kylie said quietly, still smiling softly.

"What are we doing after this?" Jack asked Jagger, hoping he wouldn't have any clear idea. For Jack's sake, he didn't.

"Oh, I was thinking of having a bit more ultraviolence, oh my brother. Shop-crasting and picking up devotchkas to give the old in-out-in-out and such veshches like that. Or we should get some spatchka. I know you must be tired, Hallowe'en Jack, after viddying such a horrorshow concert."

"Aw, let's not like retire for the nochy, brothers," Sledge said. "Tomorrow we will not be doing much of anything, and so we must find a way to like cram everything ultraviolent in this nochy!"

"Actually, I am a malenky bit tired, my droog Jagger," Jack said. "I would like to itty off to my domy." Then, quickly before Jagger could turn away, Jack unwrapped his arm from around Kylie's shoulders and whispered in Jagger's ear. "Jagger. Where is the basement that you took those sharps to lubbilub with them? I must know right away."

Jagger didn't seem surprised to hear Jack's inquiry, and the corners of his mouth turned up, deepened into a filthy smile. "It is located right next to the mesto known as the Temperance Building. The building was condemned, and all that like remains is its basement. It is perfect for the old in-out-in-out."

"Thank you," Jack said, leaning away, and Jagger gave a subtle nod in Kylie's direction, raising his eyebrows. Jack nodded back and then took Kylie by the hand. "Come on, Kylie. We're ittying off."

"Goodbye, Hallowe'en Jack!" the Diamond Dogs called behind as Jack and Kylie took off, and Jack could hear Jagger saying, "Come along with me, oh my brothers. Out out out! The nochy may not be molodoy, but we have a few hours left before dawn!"

Out on the streets, Jack and Kylie skated through overflows of people, silently watching and taking it all in. Neither of them discussed the concert, which was fine with Jack- he wanted a moment alone to be able to sort everything out. He slowly removed his gaze from the people on the streets and looked over at Kylie, absorbing the curve of her jaw, the rounded shape of her nose, the firm set of her mouth… Suddenly Kylie turned her head to look at Jack, and he nearly jumped, startled.

"We're going to my home, right?" she asked. "Are you allowed to stay up this late?"

"Yes…" Jack said carefully, choosing his words with precision. He needed to break his idea gently to her, let her know in as casual a way as possible that he had no intention of going to her place that night. "Kylie, there's something I wanted to show you first, before we go anywhere. Will you come with me?"

"Sure," Kylie said, her eyes flickering about a bit warily, "as long as I get home in time. Take me there." They rolled off into the night, Jack's heart thudding with nervous excitement. He was both eager and apprehensive about the step he was going to take, but he needed to know by the end of the night what Kylie really meant to him, and this was the only way to find out.

They made it to the Temperance Building after a few blocks, located in the more quiet part of the city. No one would notice them here, as opposed to down by the Club and the Hole In The Wall, where all eyes were watching everyone. Jack felt tension in Kylie's hand as she gripped his, and then his heart soared with the sight of the basement, right where Jagger had said it would be. Jack led Kylie over to the basement of the condemned building and opened the door, taking her down the winding steps into the dark.

_It's safe in the city to love in a doorway, _Jack thought as he looked back at the small sliver of light peeking into the basement. At his side, he could feel Kylie shuddering, and squeezed her hand. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she shrugged off his concerns. "What are we doing here?"

Jack spun in front of Kylie and took both of her hands in his. He had to trust that she was looking at him, for it was too dark down in the basement to see anything. "Kylie. I… I want to make love to you. Right here."

There was a silence, and then Kylie ripped her hands out of Jack's hands. Stunned, Jack nearly took a step back, but regained his composure.

"Please, Kylie," he said before she could speak a word. "I still don't know quite how I feel about you, and I think this is the only way to find out. Kissing only makes me more confused. I need to feel you."

"I- I don't know if I can do this," Kylie spoke, darkness shadowing her words. "I mean, I was supposed to come home tonight… My parents are waiting for me…"

Hearing Kylie shy away from the topic, Jack reached out in an attempt to grab her hands again, but his fingers clutched on air. "Please," he repeated. "Your parents can wait. Don't you want to be a rebel, Kylie?" But even as he asked her, the sharp words of his mother came back- "_No girl is a true rebel." _

"Don't you want to defy your parents' rules?" Even as Jack spoke, he could feel Kylie slipping away from him, her resolve hardening.

"Jack…" Her voice came out uncertainly in the dark. "Have you been very close with your mother recently?"

Jack shook his head, realized that Kylie wouldn't be able to see him, and answered in a sure voice. "No."

Kylie's voice took on a chiding, soothing tone of a mother lightly chastising her child. "Go home, Jack. Talk to your mother and make up with her. Leave your dreams of intimacy for another day and another person."

"But there's only one person I want to have, and that's you, Kylie," Jack pleaded. "Honestly, I don't care about going home. I don't care about my mother. I just want to know how I feel about you by tonight."

The pause that followed was so long that Jack nearly began to wonder if Kylie had moved silently and left him all alone in the dark. But then her comforting voice returned, speaking of surrender.

"All right," she said, sighing. "I'll let you make love to me. But I don't want our friendship to be any more… beneficial than that. You need to figure out who you are, Jack, and if sleeping with me helps that, I'll gladly participate."

Soft hands came to touch Jack's wrists, and a pair of lips brushed against his cheek. He moved and took her mouth in his, kissing her gently. His hands came to the back of Kylie's dress and unzipped it.

"If you don't want me to do this… if I hurt you… please tell me," Jack said, suddenly aware of his inexperience. Neither he nor Kylie had ever had sex with anyone before.

"It's okay," Kylie said. "I want to find out how I feel myself. And I trust you."

The dress slid to the floor.

What followed was a loose tangle of arms and legs moving in a jerky rhythm on the mattress. Jack was clumsy and hesitant, and it took him much longer than it should have to figure everything out ("Is it in yet?" "Well, shouldn't you be able to tell?" "_Damn, _Jack, are you sure it's supposed to hurt like this?" "How should I know? I've never done this before!"), but at last the enormous pleasure that everyone spoke about took hold of him, and he let out an involuntary groan as he emptied himself into Kylie. Kylie squeaked once and then sighed silently, her body loosening. Beneath him, Jack marveled at the way Kylie's muscles contracted, locking him tighter inside of her. And then, after a few blissful seconds, it was over. Jack slid out of Kylie, a warm feeling stealing over his bones, and lay down beside her, taking her hand and raising it to his lips.

"I love you, Kylie," he said quietly, the first words spoken since they had begun.

"I like you, Jack," she answered.

Jack frowned, wondering if she was serious or if she was just playing with him. Kylie said quickly-

"I don't want this to ruin our friendship, you know. No matter what happened tonight, I still want to be best friends."

"We are best friends," Jack said. "Nothing can change that."

She hummed once and let Jack pull her close to him. Their exhausted eyes fell closed, and the two friends-turned-lovers slept until morning broke.


	10. Chapter 10

Jack woke up groggily to find that he was lying naked in the dark. He blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the gloom and half-wondering where he was. His right eye, having been concealed under an eyepatch for so long, took to the darkness almost immediately, and that was when Jack remembered everything that had happened the night before. The Diamond Dogs had seen Aladdin Sane perform, and Kylie had come with them. Jack had realized that Aladdin Sane was from the same planet that his father was from, thus proving once and for all that Jack was not human. Jack and Kylie had gone to the basement next to the Temperance Building and had sex, though Kylie still only wanted to be Jack's friend. Remembering the last event of the night, Jack rolled onto his side and reached out uncertainly to feel if Kylie was still there. His fingers touched the bare skin of her stomach, and then he moved his hand upwards to gently stroke her breasts. Kylie roused slowly to the touch, her hand capturing Jack's. "Where are we…?"

"Some old building," Jack said, shrugging. "I think it's morning. How are you?" His voice was quiet and calm, so as not to alarm the sleepy Kylie. Kylie responded to his question with a yawn, and Jack's hands slid off of her body slowly. "God… we stayed out all night… My parents are probably going crazy trying to find me."

Jack was about to apologize, but in the brief silence between Kylie's words he became aware of an unusual sound. Slow, heavy breathing surrounded the mattress that he and Kylie lay on. They were not alone in the dark.

Jack immediately sat up, reaching blindly around the mattress for his clothes. "Kylie-" He didn't get to finish his sentence before a bark froze his blood to ice. _The dogs were here. _Jack scrambled quickly to find his clothes and yelled to Kylie urgently. "Dress yourself! We're not alone!"

The dogs attacked before Jack was done pulling his pants on. He had found his pants and underwear along with the fluffy fur coat that Widdy and Dice had presented to him, but had no time to search for his shirt before a dog had leapt on him, knocking him to the ground. Kylie shrieked in the darkness, and Jack longed to go to her rescue, but he was too busy fighting off his unseen opponent. Where was his knapsack… where was his knife? The dog snapped salivating jaws at him, but Jack held it at bay for as long as he could, flailing beneath its sturdy body before it could get a grip on his face. He managed to twist onto his stomach and fling the dog off of him, jumping to his feet and onto the mattress that Kylie had deserted. It struck Jack as he did so that not only would he need his knapsack and knife- he would need his skates, too, if he wanted to escape from the dogs quickly.

Down in the dark of the basement, there was no way to tell how many dogs were attacking, or where they were coming from. In his search for his knapsack and his skates, Jack felt claws and teeth tear into him, but he paid his injuries no mind, knowing that the skin would close up in time. A Chinese star went whizzing past his head- Kylie had found her jacket with the weapons in the pockets. Together Jack and Kylie fought the dogs, she with Chinese stars, he with his fists, until Jack stumbled over something on the floor. His skates! Kylie's roller skates were lying right next to his. Jack fluidly strapped them on and urged Kylie to do the same with hers. Just as she reached down to pick up her skates, a dog came barreling out of the dark, making straight for her. Jack threw himself in front of the dog and beat it harshly as it clawed at his chest. Fortunately the fur coat was so thick that for all the dog's efforts, Jack remained unharmed. Then a frightening voice filled his head. _Filthy Aresian! Die, die, die!_

"Jack!" Kylie called, flinging a large object at him. It fell into his arms with an "oof!" Jack cradled the knapsack, reaching in and unsheathing his knife before putting it over his back. The fight suddenly became more even. With Kylie's help, Jack managed to drive the dogs back and reach the top of the stairs. He cranked the door open, resulting in a flood of morning light so bright it nearly hurt his eyes. The dogs growled, and one raced up the steps towards Jack, but he flew out the door just in time. "Kylie! Get out of there and follow me!"

The dog chased Jack down the street, and was soon joined by the five other dogs that had attacked him in the basement. _We will destroy you, Aresian scum! _Jack put his entire strength into skating as fast he could and as far away from the dogs as possible. Yet they too put on the speed, not seeming to need rest or anything else. Jack was so consumed with worries for Kylie's safety that he could barely concentrate on where he was going, but the worries were quelled instantly when a yelp sounded from behind Jack and Kylie came rolling up to join him at his side. "I put one of the stars through the dog's nose," she said between gasps. "That stalled him for a bit. Where are we going now?"

Jack had no idea where he could go to escape the dogs, and the pack was gaining on them ever so slowly. He got the feeling that the whole chase was just a game to the dogs- they were waiting for their prey to tire out before leaping on it. They were amusing themselves by running their victims to the ground before making the kill. As death threats continued to sound in Jack's head, he knew that the dogs wouldn't stop their attack until he and Kylie were extinguished.

Suddenly Kylie pulled ahead of Jack, racing even faster than she had been before. "Jack! There's a fire escape on that building right over there!" she called. "We can climb to the top of the building and escape!"

Jack was momentarily speechless, staring up ahead at the length of Kylie's dress. The fight with the dogs had turned what was once a small tear in the back of her dress into an entire split seam, essentially ripping the dress into shreds. Though Jack had felt Kylie's body just last night, it was the first time he had seen such a thing, and was for a moment both embarrassed and transfixed by the sight of her skin, made pale from lack of sunlight and contrasting to the tan on her face and neck.

Then the barking of the dogs dragged Jack out of his fantasies, and he nodded in response to Kylie's suggestion regarding the fire escape. Kylie waited for Jack to speed up and come to her side before taking off again, making a beeline for the fire escape at the side of the nearest building. Together Jack and Kylie hopped up on the garbage cans by the fire escape and swung their legs up onto the platform, knocking the garbage cans over in the process. They noisily clumped up the steps and climbed onto the roof, where they sat down, panting with exertion. Jack crawled over to the side of the building and looked down at the dogs, who were still yapping and howling away. _ARESIAN! _The voice in Jack's head screamed. _YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!_

Jack leaned back wearily as the dogs threw themselves at the wall, attempting to reach the fire escape. But none of them could leap high enough, and Jack was grateful for knocking over the trash cans he had used to get up on the roof. A few of the dogs got distracted and ripped open the bulging black garbage bags inside of the cans, tearing them apart ravenously in the search for food. Jack scooted away from the edge of the building and rested his head against Kylie's shoulder, too afraid to stand up yet. He listened as the cacophony of barks grew louder and louder, with the clanging of the trash cans in between.

"How long do you think it'll take for them to go away?" Jack asked hypothetically. He was sure that the dogs would never give up.

Kylie was more positive in her thinking. "If someone lives in this building, not long."

Sure enough, Kylie and Jack soon heard a BANG coming from the side of the building that the dogs were facing. They crawled to the side together and looked down as a woman stuck her head out of the open window, brandishing a pot of steaming water.

"You bloody dogs!" she shrieked in an accent that Jack had never heard before. "How'd you like a face full of boiling water first thing in the mornin'?" With that she upturned the pot, and the dogs below howled as the scalding water hit them directly in the eyes. They regrouped and scampered away down the street, yelping like wounded puppies. Kylie and Jack breathed a collective sigh of relief and scooted back from the edge of the building. Jack sat down cross-legged to examine his wounds. To his satisfaction, they were starting to heal themselves, though the rate was so slow that Jack made a mental reminder to himself to defend himself better, otherwise the wounds wouldn't be able to repair themselves by the time another one appeared. Kylie took time to examine her bites as well, which were oozing bright red blood in contrast to Jack's light pink, before standing up on her skates and rolling around on the roof.

"What are you doing?" Jack whispered sharply, fear tingeing his voice. "Kylie, you're going to fall off!"

"No, I'm not," Kylie said calmly. "Not if I'm careful." She performed a perfect figure eight while Jack held his breath. He thought his heart would stop beating when she skimmed the edge of the building, teetering so that one gust of wind in the wrong direction would send her flying off. But Kylie was confident, and she returned to Jack's side with a smile on her face.

"Jack, I think I'd better go home." Jack's heart sunk. "My parents are probably very worried right now, as they were expecting me to be home by nightfall." She knelt down and brushed a few stray hairs away from Jack's forehead. Jack tilted his head back and closed his eyes, not wanting Kylie to see his disappointment. "I'll take you there some other time." She paused and laid her hand very gently against Jack's cheek. "You know… this is the first time I've seen you without your eyepatch."

"Well," Jack stated, trying and failing at keeping the unhappiness from slipping into his voice, "The Diamond Dogs won't be doing much of anything today, so I guess I'll go home too." He opened his eyes to find Kylie staring into them, her mouth half-open as if she wanted to say something, but she closed it at the last minute. Her lips came up and kissed Jack's forehead. "Stay safe," Kylie murmured in his ear. "Don't miss me too much, and don't let those dogs get you, okay?" She grinned slyly, and Jack couldn't help but return the grin, his heart filling with warmth. "I promise I won't."

"Good." Kylie skated towards the fire escape, and Jack, wanting to call Kylie back but not knowing how, ended up calling behind her, "I love you."

"See you tomorrow on Poacher's Hill," was her response before she lowered herself down the fire escape and onto the ground. "By the way, you look better without it!" Jack watched her go, the torn strips of fabric from her dress fluttering in the wind.

Once Kylie was out of sight, Jack leaned back on his hands and turned his face to the sun, sighing heavily. What a night last night had been. He now knew exactly the way he felt about Kylie, and was a bit downhearted to learn that she didn't feel the same. But Jack wouldn't force Kylie into a relationship if she didn't want to. Yes, they had made love together, but it was only a test. Jack was determined to keep things normal between himself and his best friend.

He opened his eyes, realizing suddenly that his eyepatch had been lost in the basement during the dog attack, and now he could see everything perfectly, the way it had been before he met the Diamond Dogs. A flash, a fragment from the previous night came back to Jack- he was moving in sync with the audience at Aladdin Sane's concert as if they were a living, breathing organism, and above him Aladdin Sane howled as if he was being rent into pieces. Aladdin Sane… the man so inhuman that he had to be from another planet. The man whose strange features resembled both Jack and his father. And at that moment, as Jack remembered every detail of what Aladdin Sane had looked like, he decided that he wasn't ready to go home quite yet. There was someone in the city that he needed to talk to first.

As Jack skated leisurely to the Hole In The Wall, he couldn't help but let his thoughts stray involuntarily to his mother and what she might possibly be doing at home. Like Kylie, Jack had not gotten permission to stay out all night, and so was now realizing that his mother would be in a panic. Jack was usually mindful of these things, knowing that he was the only person his mother had left in life and that she was too afraid to go into the city to look for him, and yet he had defied his mother's wishes by staying out all night. What could her reaction have been? Jack hoped she had gone to bed sensibly and was still asleep now. She usually slept late anyway…

The Hole In The Wall wasn't quite as jumping as it had been the night before. Tables had been set out over the dance floor, signaling that there would be no live band playing during the day. A few bleary-looking customers sat at the tables, nursing their drinks, and several wasted Mercurians lay passed out at the counter. Jack wished that he could speak with the Mercurians, and was sorry that they all seemed to be alcoholics and thus wouldn't have much of anything to say. Then he remembered what Kylie had told him, that their language was incomprehensible to humans, and felt a bit better, though it was still depressing seeing all those unconscious bodies at the counter.

Jack strolled up to the counter, wondering at once if roller skates were allowed inside of the nightclub and bar. Last night he and the rest of the Diamond Dogs had taken them off in order to dance better. The bartender was serving drinks to a human couple, and when he was done Jack caught his attention. The bartender walked over, wiping his hands on his shirt, damp from condensation on the drinking glass. "Yeh? What can I do for you, young man?"

"Do you know where I can find a man that was performing here last night?" Jack asked. "Bog- I mean, Aladdin Sane. I need to talk to him."

The bartender nodded. "You came to just the right place. Old Aladdin Sane lives here, right backstage in his dressing room." He sized Jack up and down. "You're a funny type, you know that? Most boys your age who come here use the strangest slang I've ever heard, and they're always so rowdy. They usually don't come during the day either. But you're not like that."

"I was here last night, actually," Jack said. "I guess I'm more like refined than most malchicks." He grinned and took off towards the stage, heading in the direction of the backstage dressing room that the bartender had mentioned.

Jack hesitated before knocking on the door. He wasn't quite sure what he was to say to Aladdin Sane when he came face to face with him. _Hi, I saw you perform last night and I'm a fan of yours. _Was it right to preface the conversation with that? Jack was sure Aladdin Sane received such compliments all the time. _I think you might be from another planet, and I think I might be from it too. _He cringed, but what else was there to say? The only reason Jack wanted to talk to Aladdin Sane was to finally figure out who he was, once and for all. And maybe he did want the chance to brag to the Diamond Dogs, _I was govoreeting with Bog this morning!_

Jack took a deep breath and then rapped sharply on the door. He waited for a few seconds- no one answered the door. Jack knocked again, louder and more urgently than before, and waited once again. But still no one came to the door. Inhaling deeply again to quell his nerves, Jack went ahead and turned the doorknob carefully. It turned. Jack flew through the door and stopped a foot inside the dressing room, gazing at a slumbering figure lying on a chaise. Aladdin Sane was here, and he was asleep, wearing the same disheveled clothes he had on the night before.

For a moment Jack felt bad for disturbing Aladdin Sane, but then he realized that the man hadn't woken up with his entrance. Because Jack still needed to talk to Aladdin Sane, he decided to stay in the room and wait for the singer to wake up. While in the dressing room, he began to explore his surroundings with his eyes. The room was furnished with nothing but a dressing table, a chair, and the chaise on which Aladdin Sane slept on. The dressing table was cluttered with stage makeup, a case for contacts, and bits of half-eaten food- crusts of bread, apple cores, coffee beans, and the like. Beneath Aladdin Sane's prone body was a lacy white blanket, but he lay atop it instead of under it, his head pillowed on his folded arms, chest rising and falling relaxingly. Examining him, Jack noticed that Aladdin Sane slept with a frown on his face, just like Jack's mother did.

His heartbeat had slowed, and Jack was starting to forget that there was another person in the room when he heard the sound of shifting fabric coming from the chaise. Jack started and glanced over; Aladdin Sane was waking up. His eyes blinked open, seeming not to see anything until he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up, stretching out his weary limbs. He yawned once, widely, before throwing his legs over the side of the chaise and piercing Jack with a knowing look that suggested to Jack he had been expecting him. Chills cluttered up his skin, both from the glance Aladdin Sane gave him and the color of his eyes. They weren't blue as Jack had noticed the night before. Now Aladdin Sane's eyes were a bright, unnatural red.

"Hello," Aladdin Sane said, his voice deep and scratchy and colored with the strange accent that Jack had heard him singing with the night before. He swiped his tongue around his mouth a few times, swallowed once, and cleared his throat before speaking again. "I was expecting you."

At first Jack was about to say, "But you were asleep," but his lips formed instead the question "How did you know I was coming?"

Aladdin Sane scratched his head, running his fingers through his reddish-brown hair. "Oh, I always know." He pulled a garment off of the back of the chaise and slipped it on, revealing it to be a dark blue dressing gown. Aladdin Sane then stood up and stretched up and down, touching his toes, and then stalked over to the dressing table and cleared some of the mess aside to reveal a coffee maker. He fed it with beans and water and then turned it on.

"You'll have to forgive me for the state I'm in," Aladdin Sane drawled in a bored-sounding tone above the noise of grinding coffee beans. "That and the state of this room. I never tidy up in here, and I was sleeping off the hangover from last night's concert. Goodness, but hangovers are such a load of cal." He blinked apologetically, and Jack was at once surprised to hear him speak the Earthly language so eloquently and to hear him slip a nadsat-talk word into his sentence. "You were there," Aladdin Sane continued, massaging his temples as he waited for the coffee to be ready. "I know because I saw you and heard that you would be coming."

"How did you know?" Jack repeated. Aladdin Sane made a _shush _noise and turned his back on Jack, fumbling around on the dressing table before he found a Styrofoam cup. Once the coffee was done being made, he poured the coffee into the cup and sipped it slowly, both wincing and delighting in its heat. "Ahh. One of the few Earthly imports to this planet that I enjoy." Aladdin Sane smiled, though his eyes were tight and faraway.

Aladdin Sane turned to sit back down on the chaise and motioned for Jack to follow him. Jack sat, a little cautiously. He was about to ask for the third time how Aladdin Sane had known he would be coming when the singer himself held out his hand. "I'm sorry- I've known who you are for a long time now, but I haven't yet known your name," he said ruefully. "Certainly you known mine already."

"My name is Jack Stardust," Jack said, shaking Aladdin Sane's thin hand. "My droogs- I mean my friends, the Diamond Dogs- call me Hallowe'en Jack."

"Diamond Dogs," Aladdin Sane muttered to himself, and gave a sarcastic snort of laughter. "You know me as A Lad Insane, though it's not my real name. The Mercurians christened me as such when I first came among them."

"The Mercurians?" Jack stated in surprise. "But they can't speak the Earthly language."

"No," Aladdin Sane said, "but they could repeat after me back then, and gave me the name after what I referred to myself as, though I wasn't so versed in the universal language as I am now." He shook his head in seeming disbelief. "On the planet that both I and you come from, what you would call the Earthly language was used as a universal language for every country to understand each other. It originated in one of our countries, so that they didn't need to learn to speak it, but for every other country, each person was taught the universal language as a second language five years into our lives. I, however, had not spoken in the universal language for years and years by the time I came here, and so I mixed it all up. 'Lad' instead of man, and I'd gotten the syntax wrong too." He grimaced. "I suppose it's better than if I _had _gotten it right, or else everyone would be calling me Aninsane Man, which has much less of a ring to it."

_A Lad Insane… _The pieces fell into place, and Jack smiled inwardly. Then he turned all of his attention onto the most pressing question. "Aladdin Sane… if I can call you that…" His heart started pounding as Jack longed to just burst out with the question. To heck with introductions.

"What else would you call me?" Aladdin Sane answered. "Bog?" He gave another harsh snort.

Jack hesitated, and then plunged right in, letting his question spring forth. "What planet are you from?" Unexpectedly, Jack's voice didn't ring out the way he had hoped it would. The question was squeaked out in a small, uncertain voice, as Jack realized he would finally find out his heritage, and was suddenly apprehensive.

"I knew you would want to know," Aladdin Sane sighed. "My planet was called Ares. It was the fourth planet in the solar system that Earth came from, but now it has died, along with Earth."

_Ares… Aresian! _The hostile voice that had filled Jack's head during the most recent dog attacks came back to him. _Filthy Aresian… _Suddenly it all made sense to Jack. He now had a name for what kind of person he was.

"Now," said Jack, peering with slight inhibition into Aladdin Sane's red eyes, "can you please tell me how you knew I was coming?" Aladdin Sane stared back unfathomably before crossing his legs and leaning his head back against the frame of the chaise. He took another sip of warm coffee, and Jack breathed in deeply, the heavenly scent permeating the air.

"I knew you were coming in the same way that I knew the Venusians would be coming," Aladdin Sane said. "I see things that normal humans, or-" He cracked a wry grin without humor- "normal Aresians don't see. Call it clairvoyance or what have you. I saw that you would be coming to my concert last night, and that you would want to talk to me this morning. Really, I knew about it all in advance, so I'm very sorry I wasn't ready to receive you."

"Excuse me?" Jack said, his ears and mind picking up on an important-sounding word. "What do you mean- the Venusians?"

"The Venusians," Aladdin Sane explained in a patient tone, "are what the humans have been calling the Saviors of planet Earth. They are the ones who rescued both the humans and the Mercurians, and who attempted to rescue the people of my planet- our planet- as well."

"I see," Jack breathed, nodding. He waited for Aladdin Sane to take another few sips of his coffee and wipe his mouth before prodding him to continue answering his questions. "Can you tell me more about Ares, Aladdin Sane?" Jack tried to force himself to say "my planet," but his mind stumbled over the phrase. "How did it die? When did you come here?"

Aladdin Sane set his Styrofoam cup down on the floor and steepled his spidery fingers, delicately leaning back on the chaise and shaking his head wearily. "We've just barely met, and you're asking me so much already. I should have foreseen this." He closed his eyes, trying to make the words flow better, and Jack hastily blurted, "Appy polly- I mean, I'm sorry. If you're still tired I'll leave you alone…"

"No," Aladdin Sane said. Without opening his eyes, he reached out and tapped Jack lightly on the arm. "I would like you to stay. You are going to stay, anyway. I see it. It's been so long since I've been able to talk to someone who relates to me, even if you are only half Aresian, and you need your questions answered besides." Jack stiffened and prompted Aladdin Sane- "Go on…?"

Aladdin Sane said nothing for a while, collecting his thoughts, and then began without any prelude. "I was living out on my own in a cottage in the wilderness that I had built for myself when I first saw that the Venusians would be arriving. I had built the cottage to keep myself away from society, who would surely shun me or do worse to me if they discovered my visions. But that is beside the point. What matters is that while I was out there, I had a vision of the Venusians, flying above Ares in their shining wood and metal ships, searching for life."

_Flash- _Jack remembered being on board one of those very ships, in a waking daze as he gazed numbly at all that was around him. A tall being nearby him stood with his back facing Jack, but not for the first time, Jack could not recall his or her face.

"At the time I didn't know what it meant," Aladdin Sane said. "I had never seen nor heard of anything or anyone like the Venusians before. I thought maybe my vision was false, that it was showing me a dream. But later I began to see horrific visions, scenes of an apocalypse that was taking place over the course of five Aresian years. People were ravaging houses, screaming in the streets, fighting brutally over what little supplies they had, all to be finished off by a poisonous yellow fog and blood-red rain. Then the vision of the Venusians came to me once again, and I understood what they were trying to do. They wanted to land on Ares to save our people and bring us to a safe haven on another planet.

"From that day forward, I kept my eyes and ears open for any more signals that the Venusians might send to me. My visions have no sense of time, and so I had no idea how far along in the future the apocalypse would be happening- it could have been several years or, just as possible, several weeks. I only knew for sure when I fell asleep one night and received a dream that felt so vivid it had to have been happening only the next day. The Venusians had come to Ares- indeed, while working outdoors the next day I could feel their presence, though as far as I know they weren't nearby- in a time of peace, appearing at a festival in the country that the universal language originated in. They stopped by briefly to watch the festivities, and it must have been decided that we didn't look to be in any danger, for they sailed away once more into the galaxy, content.

"I was aghast that the Venusians had missed the date, and decided to take matters into my own hands. No one would listen to me in town if I told them of my visions, for the fact that I saw them in itself, and for the content. If the apocalypse was not to happen for another thousand years, it would be useless warning the townspeople and stirring up their defenses when they were in no danger to speak of. So I decided to build a spacecraft of my own design to help me get off of Ares when the apocalypse came. I could see from my visions that it was going to be a successful plan. I just didn't know how I could pull it off, or more importantly, when. But my instincts told me to move quickly.

"I needn't go into detail about what happened. If you are familiar with the destruction of Earth or of Mercury, you will understand what happened to Ares." Suddenly noticing that his hand was shaking, Aladdin Sane opened his mystifying red eyes and reached into the front pocket of his dressing gown to produce a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. He took one out of the pack, leaving two behind, and lit it, before offering the second-to-last cigarette to Jack. Jack shook his head, having never smoked before, and Aladdin Sane replaced the cigarette packet and lighter in his pocket and sucked on it for a bit. "Here's an Earthly import that I don't enjoy anymore, but can't give up now," he said sorely, pinching the cigarette between two fingers. After blowing smoke into the air, Aladdin Sane went on with his tale.

"I perceived from my special sight that only a few of us would get out of the apocalypse all right. I would survive, as would a young man from the country that the universal language originated in, and eventually the Venusians would arrive late to pick up whatever people were still living down on the planet, just as they did for planet Earth. Now, at the time I was very excited to see this vision, and determined to find out where the Venusians had taken my people so that I could join them there. What a nazz I was! I traveled outer space for years and years, so many years that I lost track, desperately searching for the remnants of my planet.

"When I finally arrived on this planet, I came to find that there were no signs of life whatsoever, and yet my visions told me that my people had been taken here. Convinced that there was no way my sight could be lying to me- ha! Ha!" Aladdin Sane broke off into cruel, harsh laughter. "I wandered about the desert for days, blindly searching for food, water, and civilization. I was nearly famished when I saw them for the first time. At first I thought they were a mirage, but when they came closer I found I was staring not at a mirage, but at a pack of true Diamond Dogs." He smiled a twisted smile, and Jack blinked.

"Diamond Dogs? Like my droogs? But humans haven't been on this planet for…"

"Years and years, I know," Aladdin Sane said. "Jack, your 'droogs' as you call them- so _charming, _the way the nadsats in this city have picked up on my language; they use it as a kind of hero-worship, believing me to be God or Bog- named themselves, whether they did so knowingly or unknowingly, after the real Diamond Dogs, the animals that attacked me so many years ago." His tone grew blacker as he spoke, staring sharply at Jack's arms and face. "You were attacked by them this morning, I see. You still bear the scars."

"I do?" Jack murmured, reaching up to touch his face where the dogs had clawed it. The wounds had closed up as per Jack's healing ability, but he could still feel the lines of raised patches of skin where he had been scratched.

Aladdin Sane nodded. "I see that you have inherited our Aresian trait of an accelerated healing ability. However, the human half of you causes the wounds to leave scars. Tell me, when did you receive them, and how long did it take for them to heal?" He leaned into Jack with a flicker of interest in his crimson eyes, like a dying flame rekindled. "I'm sorry if you think this is irrelevant. I know it is myself, but I'm a bit curious to see how true Aresians and hybrids differ."

"It's okay," Jack mumbled, trying to wrap his head around the idea that he was an Aresian-human hybrid. He unconsciously ran his fingers along the scratches on his arms as he answered Aladdin Sane's question. "The dogs got me this morning, and the wounds healed in the amount of time it took for me to skate over here."

"Ah," Aladdin Sane said, his curiosity apparently sated. "It would appear that full-blooded Aresians have a faster healing power than you. You'll have to be careful, Jack, if you ever run into those Diamond Dogs again. Which brings me back to my story…" He took a drag from the cigarette and then reached down between his feet, taking the Styrofoam cup of coffee up once more, and downed the contents in one gulp. Seemingly steadied, Aladdin Sane then went on with the rest of his story.

"The Diamond Dogs knew what I was. To this day I have no idea how they knew, but as they ran at me I could hear voices in my head, shouting about _death to the Aresian _and so on. They nearly tore me to pieces, but I escaped in time, though not without terrible wounds. The Diamond Dogs must have been named for their teeth- those fangs are so sharp they could cut open anything, as unbreakable as diamonds. I crawled away into a little shelter to bleed and hide. The next day my journey continued in a similar fashion. It was truly awful, let me tell you. I staggered about this wasteland for days and days, near delirious from thirst and hunger, weakly fending off attacks from the vicious Diamond Dogs, and starting to go mad. And all the while the visions haunted my head- memories of the destruction of Ares, and scenes of what had happened to my people and what was going to happen to me. I still don't understand why the Diamond Dogs didn't just kill me at the time. They had the opportunity, for I was defenseless and could barely stand up straight, but the most they ever did was rough me up a bit and threaten me with voices in my head. To them, I suppose killing me would have been showing me mercy, and perhaps they thought it better to torture me by having me live. That might explain why I got to Hunger City in time. I finally collapsed in the streets, and the Mercurians found me and took me in.

"It wasn't called Hunger City then, not yet. The Mercurians had their own name for it, but their language was impossible for my tongue to pronounce. They nursed me back to health over what had to have been the course of a month, or more. I was traumatized from my entire experience after leaving Ares and the visions were driving me insane. It was a very dark point in my life…" Aladdin Sane took in a pensive breath, and for a moment Jack thought he was going to continue with the story, but with a miniscule shake of his head he skipped ahead and went on with, "Anyway, when I had been through the dark tunnel of madness and come out on the other side alright, the Mercurians asked me my name. I knew what they meant because I had grown to understand a bit of their language during my convalescence, and so I told them I was 'A Lad Insane.' They didn't get the joke, of course, but the name stuck and I've been using it ever since then." Aladdin Sane looked over at Jack, pinning his with his gaze. "Before you ask, I am not going to tell you what my real name is. I've completely gotten rid of it since the Mercurians found me, and to hear you call me by my name would prove both confusing and painful." Jack nodded- "I understand"- and Aladdin Sane relaxed.

"Well, that was my personal story. The rest I'm sure you've heard from whatever authority figures are in your life right now. I lived with the Mercurians in this city for Bog knows how many years, serving as an entertainer for them. I was a musician, though I could do nothing but sing. When the humans arrived, our entire city changed. They set up their stores and nightclubs and what have you, and the Mercurians were driven from the city they had built, retreating to various bars and nightclubs and quickly becoming addicted to drink. It's been terrible seeing a race of people that I've always admired throw their lives away at the bar. Not that I wasn't immune to the Earthly vices." Aladdin Sane tapped his cigarette and winced. "Nicotine, alcohol and the like… I can only thank Bog that I'm an Aresian and my body heals itself before I can get alcohol poisoning. The drink used to drown out the pain I still felt over my lost planet and the trauma from my time in the wasteland, but it's no longer helping me and I'm hopelessly connected to it now." He sighed, though not too tragically. Jack figured that Aladdin Sane didn't want to appear too melodramatic or take his fate too seriously. He wanted to play the part of a survivor, albeit to survive he had ended up paying a terrible price.

"When the humans came, my role in the community changed. I was the only Aresian in a city of Mercurians and humans, and I suppose that put me in a higher esteem than anyone else. I began my career here at this nightclub, and since the day I set foot in this building I've never left it. There is nowhere else to go, and besides, the Diamond Dogs stalk the streets more freely now that the humans have taken over. I don't want to risk another run-in with them- I'm sure if I even saw one now I wouldn't be able to stand it.

"The children from Earth grew into nadsats and began to worship me, calling me Bog. I suppose that's where you fit into the picture, Jack. They adopted the name of the Diamond Dogs for themselves, not knowing that the name has such negative connotations." Aladdin Sane tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette and repositioned himself on the chaise. "I think I've said all I needed to say, or all I was planning to say, anyway. Is there anything more you'd like to talk to me about?" He paused and spoke before Jack could say anything. "I know there is."

"I don't think so," Jack said, his mind trying to absorb the entire story that Aladdin Sane had just told him. "I…" He brushed his long hair behind his ears, a nervous tremor in his hand as he did so. Jack wished he still had his eyepatch so he wouldn't have to look at Aladdin Sane full on. That face was a little too knowing, and those eyes were a little too disturbing.

"I just have to get something straight," he said. "You're the last Aresian living?"

"As far as I know, yes," Aladdin Sane said. "The Venusians supposedly rescued a number of Aresians from my planet, but what they did to them is unknown. My visions told me they took them here, but that has proven to be false. I do know that the fate of the young man who escaped the planet by himself is unknown, unless you know something about that." He looked at Jack. "You're not a full-blooded Aresian. You have some human blood in you as well. Tell me, Jack, how did you come into being? Did the man I saw escaping the apocalypse on Ares come to Earth to have children?"

"I-I'm not sure," Jack said, suddenly realizing that what Aladdin Sane had said was exactly true. Who else could his father have been, if the entirety of the Aresian race had been extinguished besides Aladdin Sane and one other young man? Jack stuttered, "I mean, up until a few days ago I didn't know that I wasn't completely human. My mother is human, but she never told me that my father wasn't. According to her, he was a rock musician like you that she had a one-night-stand with. She told me he was murdered on Earth. His name was… Ziggy Stardust." Jack peered hopefully into Aladdin Sane's eyes to see if the name rang any bells, but Aladdin Sane shook his head apologetically.

"I've never heard of anyone named Ziggy Stardust, but there were many people on my planet, and he didn't come from my country, so it's likely that our paths never crossed. Whoever he was, it's clear from the sight of you that he was an Aresian." Aladdin Sane reached out and touched Jack's gently pointed ears, and then slowly brushed his pink face. "Your ears…" he murmured. "Your skin… You have Aresian blood in you, Jack. There's no denying that." He pulled his hand back suddenly, as if realizing how suggestive his movements were. "It's a shame that we don't have more time together. Being the last two Aresians, or at least partial Aresians, left alive, we need to stick together. By all rights I should be allowed to tell you everything you might need to know about your own race. But this is the last time that we'll ever speak. My vision had told me so, and I don't believe it's wrong now." Aladdin Sane's face was a blank slate, betraying no sadness or anger, in contrast to Jack, who let the disappointment show on his face.

"But I just met you," he said plaintively. "Why- why are we never going to speak again?" Deep within himself, Jack felt himself grow melancholy. He longed to continue talking to Aladdin Sane, divining all of the man's secrets and all the secrets of the race of Aresians. Now that Jack had found out at last who he was, even if there were still a few holes to fill in (talking to his mother should alleviate that), he felt a close kinship with Aladdin Sane. His heart broke at the thought of never seeing this man again after that day. He was his race… he was his family…

Aladdin Sane's inscrutable red eyes blinked once, and he stood up and went over to the dressing table. "We just aren't," he said quietly, calmly, and stubbed his cigarette out on an ashtray on the dressing table. Jack watched as Aladdin Sane then opened a drawer in the dressing table and took out of it a handheld pistol. He turned the gun on himself, and Jack leapt forward, crying, "No-"

"Don't be alarmed!" Aladdin Sane said, whirling on his heel to face Jack and halt his advancement. He shifted the pistol into one hand and used the other hand to keep Jack away from him, grabbing his shoulder. "I'm not going to use it yet," he said. "Actually I'm not sure if I'm going to use it at all. Being clairvoyant, I have foreseen my own death, but the details are unclear, as they are in many of my visions." He let go of Jack, who breathed deeply in an attempt to calm the spiking of his heart, and got a lungful of cigarette smoke, which made him cough. Aladdin Sane took no notice, spinning the pistol about in his hand.

"I've had this pistol with me for a very long time," he said. "There is but one bullet inside, meant for me. When the memories and the visions began to torture me, I felt that I had to find a way to die. And so I obtained this little Earthly veshch." He snorted, giving the pistol another spin for good measure. "You have to be aware of this, Jack. We Aresians have excellent memories- too excellent, in fact. I can remember most of the events of my life since my birth in crystal clear detail. Have you come to experience anything like this before?"

Jack, shocked by Aladdin Sane's revelation, shook his head. "I have a good memory," he said, "but I think the human part of me keeps it from being too good. Sometimes I get little flashes here and there…"

"Ah, well," Aladdin Sane sighed. "It's for the best. I hope to Bog you've never experienced the depression, either."

Jack shook his head again, though he wasn't quite sure what Aladdin Sane meant. Aladdin Sane didn't look at him, instead turning back to the dressing table and hoisting the pistol to his chest once more, staring in the corrosion-flecked mirror at himself.

"The best way for an Aresian to commit suicide," Aladdin Sane said, "is to shoot or stab oneself in the heart or in the brain. Any other injury would heal, and if we never drown nor poison ourselves, we will simply live forever and ever and ever."

"What?" Jack blurted suddenly. "You mean we're… we're…" He could barely spit the word out, and Aladdin Sane didn't seem keen on helping him find it. _Ageless? Immortal? _What could Jack say to that?

"You might not be," Aladdin Sane said. "And thank Bog for that. You don't want to live as long as I have lived. It will drive you bezoomy, turn you into another Aladdin Sane." He smiled dryly, again without humor, and ran his finger along the pistol's trigger.

"In my vision of death," Aladdin Sane explained, "I am standing before this very mirror with the pistol pressed to my chest, ready to make the final shot. I can hear the sounds of scuffle coming from out in the club, including the barking of the wretched Diamond Dogs. I can hear them coming closer and closer to my dressing room, and I can feel the cold steel of the pistol as my sweating hands tighten their grip. But for the life of me, I can't tell who gets me first- the dogs or myself." He swallowed.

"I hope it won't take very long for me to find out."

After leaving the Hole In The Wall, Jack stood outside for a bit to pull himself together, his mind reeling from everything that Aladdin Sane had told him. He wiped the sweat off his face- it was looking to be a hot day already- and took a deep breath to calm himself before rolling forward on his skates, then backward, and finally taking off down the street. It was time to either go home, or find the Diamond Dogs to tell them of everything he had learned. If only Kylie hadn't left so early… Jack knew she would be very interested in what he had just found out.

As Jack skated, he began to hear the telltale squeaking sounds coming from behind him. He didn't turn around and waited until the Diamond Dogs had surrounded him, Widdy and Dice skating at his flanks, Sledge bringing up the rear, and Jagger taking the lead, as usual. Though Jagger was in front, it was actually Jack who led the Diamond Dogs into a back alley and spun around a few times on his skates before braking. Widdy and Dice skated to the front and checked out the contents of a metal garbage can while Sledge drifted away to practice his skating and Jagger swung in front of Jack, hands on his hips and eyes glowing. "Welly welly welly well now, oh my brother Hallowe'en Jack," he said triumphantly. "And where have you been all nochy and this morning? We searched all high and low for you, my brother and droog, when we found we had not viddied you all morning." Jagger drew his arm around Jack's shoulders and gave him a conspiratorial wink. "What were you and my fair sister Kylie up to last nochy? Did anything sloochat that you would like to govoreet about?" He peered closely at Jack's face, noticing a difference. "And what has sloochatted to your glazzy-patch?"

Jack shook off Jagger's arm in as polite a way as he could manage and checked over his shoulders to make sure none of the Diamond Dogs were listening before drawing Jagger over to the side and whispering in his ear, "We ittied off to the basement together, oh my brother Jagger. I don't like believe I need to skazat more."

Jagger grinned knowingly and clapped Jack on the back. "Hallowe'en Jack, you have like grown!" he exclaimed. "You are no malenky malchick anymore. You are a true veck!"

"Why thank you, brother Jagger," Jack said with a slight sarcastic edge to his voice. He didn't think that having sex with someone would make him a man, especially not at his age. Besides, there were more important things to discuss than who he had been with the night before.

Jagger, however, didn't seem to think so. "Where is the molodoy devotchka now, oh my brother?" he asked Jack. "Why has she not like come with you?"

"She had to itty off to her domy," Jack explained downheartedly. "She wants only to be my droog, brother Jagger. I… I love her, but she does not love me back." Despite Jack's earlier decision that he wouldn't feel upset about Kylie's affections, he couldn't help but let disappointment creep into his voice. He tried to shake it off to look unaffected for Jagger, but Jagger saw through Jack immediately, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Appy polly loggies, my brother. There are plenty of other sharps in the city for you to like enjoy."

"I only want Kylie," Jack said, and then thought it best to shut up. No one would want to hear him whine about something he couldn't change, and he still had important news to tell the Diamond Dogs. _Diamond Dogs… _The very name suddenly struck Jack as being darkly humorous. When these boys found out what their name really meant, they wouldn't be laughing.

Jagger tried to offer another word of comfort, but Jack shrugged him off. "Oh my brother Jagger, I have like important news to skazat. Gather the rest of our brothers so that they can all slooshy."

Jagger blinked, started to open his mouth, but then twisted whatever he was going to say into a simple word of, "All right, my brother." He backed away from Jack and spun in a circle on his skates a few times before gliding up to Widdy, Dice, and Sledge. "Slooshy here, oh my brothers! Hallowe'en Jack has some important like slovos to skazat and he wants us all to slooshy very very closely. Come to me, my brothers!"

Widdy and Dice stopped their sifting through the garbage bag, which they had ripped open with their knives, and came to Jagger willingly. Sledge followed behind with darkness in his eyes. Together the Diamond Dogs stood in a curved line, facing Jack and waiting for him to speak. Jack took a deep breath, surveying his friend's faces, and clasped his hands together as he started to talk.

"I was govoreeting with Bog this morning, oh my br-"

He couldn't finish the sentence before Jagger let out an overly dramatic gasp. "Not-"

"Aladdin Sane?!" all four Diamond Dogs finished simultaneously, and their eyes widened at the same time as if on cue. Jack would have found it comical had his news not been so important. He nodded.

"Yes, I was govoreeting with Aladdin Sane-" The other four Diamond Dogs mouthed the name- "oh my brothers. I went to him this morning after being attacked by that oozhassny pack of dogs that have like terrorized us Diamond Dogs-" the name was hard to get out, now that Jack knew what it meant- "in the past. I awoke in the basement with our fair sister Kylie by my side, our plotts all nagoy after lubbilubbing last nochy, and found myself staring into the litsos of those grazny creatures." Widdy and Dice looked as if they were about to start cheering with the mention of having sex with Kylie, but when Jack brought up the dogs they immediately sobered, a trace of fear in their eyes. Jagger's face was guarded, and Sledge blurted in a suddenly forceful voice, "How did you ookadeet safely, oh my brother?" He stepped forward, his expression urgent.

"There was a bitva," Jack explained, "and myself and Kylie were both like wounded, oh my brothers. But we did escape by climbing to the top of a nearby mesto. A devotchka inside the mesto saved us by pouring boiling water down on the dogs, and they ittied off in like great fright, oh my brothers. I would have smecked at the sight had I not been so poogly."

Without warning, Sledge turned on Jagger, speeding up to him in one quick movement and lunging for him with a shout. "You _bratchny!" _he cried, as Jagger blocked his blow with his arm and whipped out his knife in a single movement. "Those dogs could have oobivatted our brother Hallowe'en Jack! Why did you not warn him, brother? I thought droogs were supposed to like protect each other from danger!"

"Calm down, brother," Jagger pleaded, as Widdy and Dice, alarmed, skated up to Sledge and grabbed hold of his arms, tugging him away from Jagger. "I am not poogly of using this nozh on you." Sledge gave a few more halfhearted struggles before falling still, contempt flaring in his eyes. Jagger continued, "We are droogs, oh my brother Sledge, and it is not right for us to like fight. Besides, this is like the day after a nochy of worship. I will explain everything when Hallowe'en Jack has finished telling us his news."

"I would much prefer it, brother Jagger, if you explained everything _now!" _Sledge cried. "Both Hallowe'en Jack and Kylie could have snuffed it this morning, and we would have you to blame!"

Jagger sighed and looked reluctantly over at Jack before letting his gaze swing back onto Sledge. "Release him," he commanded Widdy and Dice, and they let go of Sledge, who stayed where he was, gazing levelly at Jagger. Jagger sheathed his knife before turning to look at Jack again. "Appy polly loggies for this example of poor conduct, oh my brother," he said. Sledge huffed an angry sigh at him.

"I admit," Jagger said, "it was like unfair of me to not tell you about the dogs we found in the basement the last time we were there, Hallowe'en Jack. Appy polly loggies once again. I never thought they might like return to attack you."

"When did you viddy the dogs for the first time, oh my brother Jagger?" Jack asked.

Jagger sighed and held his hands out, palms up. "The last nochy in the basement with the sharps, oh my brother, was the first time any of us Diamond Dogs had viddied them. We could slooshy them prowling about on the streets outside as we lubbilubbed, barking their awful vonny barks and sniffing about quite near the door. The sharps were a bit spoogy of such animals, but we told them they would not come down to find us and kept those devotchkas from ookadeeting. But all through the nochy, as we zasnooted, whenever I awoke I could slooshy the breathing of the dogs quite near my ookoes and around the plotts of my three brothers, deep in spatchka. I could not move, out of shilarny that the dogs would like find me there in the dark and attack me. They did not vred us at all that nochy, my brother Hallowe'en Jack, but it was enough to like drive the devotchkas away in the morning. Brother Sledge here-" he hooked his finger over at Sledge, who glowered- "was poogly of the dogs, and thought that we should warn you about them. But I never thought you would need the basement, oh my brother, and so left it un-skazatted. It turns out-" Jagger placed his hands on his hips and swept his gaze over Sledge, Widdy, Dice, and Jack. "It turns out that I was wrong, oh my brothers, and I offer deep appy polly loggies to anyone I have like offended on accident."

"Good good good," Sledge sighed, a note of exasperation in his voice, covered with a hint of affection. "Appy polly loggy accepted."

"And you?" Jagger asked, looking at Jack. Jack nodded. "Appy polly loggy accepted, oh my brother."

"Good good good," Jagger conceded. "The dogs may have attacked you, brother Hallowe'en Jack, but they do not appear to have done much like damage. I am pleased to viddy that you escaped all right."

"Not exactly," Jack said, returning to his story. "Do you not viddy the marks on my litso where the dogs skriked me?" He ran his fingers down his face, and Jagger, leaning in to peer closely, frowned and shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Jack said, touching his face again, and then he remembered as his fingers ran over smooth skin. By now, the wounds on his face and arms would have closed up entirely, thanks to his partial Aresian blood.

Jagger nodded. "I am sure, oh my brother. I do not viddy any wounds on your litso or elsewhere. What does all of this have to do with Bog, my brother?"

Jack inhaled. "That's what I was getting at, my brother Jagger. Slooshy closely, everyone." The Diamond Dogs huddled in on each other, all looking eagerly towards Jack, ready for him to continue.

"After saying goodbye to my fair sister Kylie, I went back to the Hole In The Wall in like search of Aladdin Sane." The Diamond Dogs mouthed his name to themselves in unison. "I had many veshches I wanted to govoreet with him about, because I had a surprising like realization last nochy at the concert that involved both myself and him."

Jack looked at the open faces of his friends, hoping that they would be accepting and believe what he had to say. The last time Jack had suggested that he was descended from one of Bog's Holy Angels, Jagger had been very vocal in protesting that Jack was not connected in any way to them. Now, to claim that he was closer to Bog than any of the other Diamond Dogs, or even anyone on the planet or, for that matter, the entire galaxy, Jack was afraid that Jagger would shun him for his words and cast him out of the group of Diamond Dogs. But as it was the truth, Jack had to say it anyway.

"Have you ever noticed, brothers, the shape of my ookoes?" Jack started, brushing the hair back behind his ears. He flipped his head to the side and strained his neck forward to show the Diamond Dogs what he was talking about. There was a short intake of breath; from who, Jack couldn't tell.

"Pointed, yes," Jack said. "No human I know has ookoes like this. And viddy my skin, brothers." He held out his bare arms, and four pairs of eyes bulged as they gazed at them. "No human has skin as light as mine. And before you choose to like disbelieve me or skazat that there are other humans with these features, I would like to show you something." He slipped his hand into his knapsack and drew out the Bowie knife, unsheathing it. Before the Diamond Dogs' very eyes, Jack sliced into his wrist, taking care not to open the veins beneath. He may have a quicker healing power than normal humans, but he was sure it wasn't quick enough to heal severed veins before he bled to death. Protests rang out.

"No, brother Hallowe'en Jack!" Dice cried. "Don't vred yourself!"

"It's all right," Jack answered, holding his wrist out to show the Diamond Dogs. "Viddy well, my brothers." The Diamond Dogs held a collective breath as Jack's light pink blood dripped out onto the ground. Then the skin began to grow back, and the boys gasped as one. They watched and waited as Jack's self-made wound closed up the rest of the way, and then Jack dropped his arm and looked the Diamond Dogs in the eye. They stared in disbelief, their minds trying to make sense of what they had just seen.

"I am not human," Jack said firmly. "I am not completely human, anyway. My em is human, but my old pee who snuffed it on Earth was not. He and the great-"

"Aladdin Sane," all five Diamond Dogs breathed.

"-were of the same kind. They both came from the planet Ares, and were the only survivors from its untimely death. The great and holy Bog told me this. My old pee got my em like pregnant and she gave birth to me after he was oobivatted. Now Aladdin Sane-"

"Aladdin Sane," the four boys repeated numbly.

"-is the only Aresian left alive. I am half-Aresian myself, descended from the race of people that our Bog is from. My pee also happened to be one of Bog's Holy Angels." Jack reached into his knapsack and withdrew the newspaper article. BRITISH ROCK SENSATION ZIGGY STARDUST MURDERED IN SUFFRAGETTE CITY.

"Therefore, I am the like spawn of Bog," Jack said. "Or at least His Holy Angels." He waited for a reaction, which, due to the shock of everything Jack had said, was long in coming. The Diamond Dogs stared unblinkingly at Jack, none of them moving, and Jack began to fear that he had done irreparable damage by telling them everything. But then Jagger moved forward, and placed his hand on Jack's shoulder, looking into his eyes. Blue met gray as Jagger murmured weakly-

"All hail the Child of Bog's Angel."

There was a short silence, and then Sledge, Dice, and Widdy repeated after Jagger. "All hail the Child of Bog's Angel. All hail the Child of Bog's Angel! All hail the Child…" They continued to chant, their voices growing louder and louder, until Jagger cut them off, his eyes still boring holes into Jack and his hands still on Jack's shoulders.

"Brother Hallowe'en Jack…" He stopped and corrected himself. "Brother-"

"Hallowe'en Jack," the Diamond Dogs said in unison, catching on.

"Now that we know you are like one of Bog's Holy Angels themselves, I do not think I can lead the Diamond Dogs. You must become the leader of our malenky shaika, Child of Bog. I cannot give like orders to someone who is above me in rank."

Jack quickly shook his head, ducking out from under Jagger's grip on his shoulders. "You have gotten it wrong, brother Jagger," he said, worried suddenly about the hefty responsibility of leading the Diamond Dogs. "I don't know anything- like, _anything- _about leading a shaika. If it's all right with you, I would prefer not to like do this. There are more important veshches to skazat now, anyway. Slooshy closely, everyone."

Jagger pulled away from Jack and rolled back into place with the rest of the boys, looking a bit put out. They waited with bated breath for the conclusion of his tale. Jack said:

"The great and powerful Bog told me that the vonny dogs we have all viddied before are truly baddiwad and evil. They attacked him several times in the past and drove him bezoomy. Now the dogs are after me, because I am like Aresian, and the dogs hate Aresians. Bog told me that the dogs are known as… Diamond Dogs." Jack paused. "They want to oobivat me."

This time the pause in between words and reaction was shorter. The Diamond Dogs exchanged glances with each other, and then Jagger stepped forward, his face serene and his eyes glowing. Sledge was the next to come up, his face etched with determination, and then Widdy and Dice came forward, holding hands and glancing eagerly up towards Jack. They let Jagger speak for them.

"Hallowe'en Jack." The name was once again spoken in unison. Jagger dipped his head. "We Diamond Dogs will protect you with our jeeznies, no matter what danger comes your way. We will not let the Diamond Dogs oobivat you. You can trust us, dear brother and droog."

Jack was unable to summon up any words for a moment, staring at the devoted faces of his friends. Then he came forward to meet them, holding out his arms. "I…" There seemed to be nothing left to say but "Thank you." Jagger smiled, and Jack rushed in to give him a quick embrace as a means of expressing his gratitude.

"Oh, hell," Jagger grumbled as Jack wrapped his arms around him. "Get off me, Child of Bog! You may be all holy like, but that doesn't make me want you to touch me."

Jack backed away, giggling. "Appy polly loggies, brother Jagger. I'm just so… happy that you want to defend me."

"Of course we do," Sledge said, and the other boys added their assent. "Even if you were not like the Child of Bog, you are still our great droog and brother. We would always protect you no matter who you were."

After taking leave of the Diamond Dogs, who bid Jack solemnly farewell and went back to their doing absolutely nothing, Jack skated towards home, clutching his Bowie knife in his hand and fretting internally over what he was to do when he got to the Manhattan Chase building. It was time for something that had been far too long in coming- a confrontation with his mother.

The sun was making ready to set as Jack skated, and along the way he felt sure that someone, or something, was watching him. He gulped quietly and tightened his grip on the knife. Were the Diamond Dogs here? Invisible eyes seemed to be staring at him, but in the fading light Jack could see nothing that would suggest he was being watched. He flipped his head around to look up at Poacher's Hill, far behind him in the distance. For a moment Jack felt sure that his unseen stalkers were up there, but a closer look revealed no dogs. Still, Jack chose to skate backwards the rest of the way, blood pounding in his ears. Thoughts of the real Diamond Dogs suddenly brought back memories of Kylie's nursery rhyme that she had told him about on the day they met, and he reviewed the words with a newfound clarity.

"'_You better lock up your kids and your wife, because the Diamond Dogs are coming to get you tonight. Crawling down the alley on your hands and knee- I'm sure you're not protected, for it's plain to see, that the Diamond Dogs are poachers and they hide behind trees. Hunt you to the ground they will- mannequins with kill appeal."_

Jack hadn't even gotten to the front door of his home yet before it burst open and the figure he was most wanting and dreading to see came flying out at him. "_Jack!" _Jack began to brake, but his mother came at him too soon, and they collided in one place, his mother wrapping her arms around him in a much-too-tight iron grip.

"_Where have you been?!" _she seethed from between clenched teeth. "Where have you been, Jack? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

"I was out in Hunger City, Mom," Jack replied, trying to break free of her brutal embrace. "I stayed the night. I'm sorry if I-"

"You stayed the _night?!" _Jack's mother cried, her voice rising. "Where did you sleep?"

"Down in an abandoned basement," Jack said, and stifled an awkward cough. Sleeping hadn't been the only thing to occur in that basement.

His mother finally released him, but she kept her hands on Jack's arms. "Jack." Her voice was firm and harsh, and her dark eyebrows were pushed together. "Don't _ever _stay out in the city without my permission AGAIN."

"Sure, sure," Jack muttered, brushing his mother off of him and moving towards the door. He wasn't in the mood to deal with her freak-out. His mother followed him closely behind, her hands setting themselves on her hips.

"'Sure, sure?'" she mimicked Jack as he sat down on the couch and tossed his knapsack at his feet, sheathing the Bowie knife and slipping it back into the bag. "Look at me, Jack! Look at me!" Jack complied, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he faced his trembling mother. Her face was twisted with a strong emotion- anger? Terror?- that instantly made Jack feel ashamed. He shouldn't be treating his mother so coolly… But this was no time for her hysterics. Jack had to find out the long-awaited answer to a burning question that only his mother could answer.

"What were you doing all night?" Jack's mother asked, her arms slackening and falling at her sides. "Why- why didn't you tell me you would be gone for so long?"

Instead of making a dismissive comment- Jack figured that that would rile his mother up even more- Jack murmured his question in a quiet, soothing voice. "Mom? There's something I need to know from you." He swallowed, controlling his churning emotions within, and then burst out with, "Why didn't you _tell _me my father was from another goddamn _planet?!"_

As Jack's voice screeched up a few octaves despite himself, the glass in the windows shattered, and his mother clapped her hands to her ears in pain. Jack was too angry to care about the damage. A small part of his mind suddenly compared the sound of his fitful rage to the high-pitched cries that Aladdin Sane had emitted the night before. Did this vocal extension have anything to do with being an Aresian? There was no time to wonder, and so Jack muted the pondering voice in his head and turned his attention back to his mother.

Jack's mother stood in one place, her entire body vibrating. Her hands knotted and unknotted themselves, wringing out imaginary water. Her trembling lips parted, and tears came pouring down her cheeks. "_Jack," _she choked. _"I'm- sorry!" _The second word turned into a wail as Jack's mother ripped her hands apart and began to sob. Jack had never seen his mother cry before- upset and angry, yes, but never reduced to tears- and the sight shocked him so much that he forgot to be angry.

"It's okay, Mom," Jack said, starting to rise from the couch, but then he decided his mother didn't need any comfort from him. Instead, he patted the seat next to him. "Sit down." His mother came over and sat, burying her face in her hands and weeping bitterly.

"I'm sorry," Jack's mother coughed out in between sobs, her voice hoarse. "I'm sorry, Jack." Jack, who was growing annoyed with his mother's emotional outburst but was not utterly heartless, gave in to his instinct and laid his hand on her back, while saying, "Get a hold of yourself." After a while his mother's crying subsided and she looked up at her son, scrubbing her damp face with the palms of her hands.

"Ask me anything, Jack, and I'll answer every one of your questions," his mother said, reaching out to take his hand. He pulled it away at the last second.

"Why did you lie to me for so long?" Jack whispered. "Why did you tell me I was a human all this time, when I'm actually half-Aresian?"

The word that sat so comfortably in his mouth now did not have the same effect on his mother. "Aresian?" she murmured, scrunching up his forehead, and then leaned back and heaved the longest sigh Jack had ever heard her sigh. "I'm so sorry about all of this, Jack, you have to forgive-"

"I'll be able to forgive you as soon as you give me a reason for deceit," Jack said. "Why?"

His mother fiddled with her fingers, refusing to meet Jack's eyes. "I thought you would never need to know," she said. "I thought it would just be you and me, all by ourselves in this old building. I never thought you would meet other humans and start wondering…" She peeped at him with one eye. "How did you find out?"

Jack shrugged. "It was weird enough when my wound healed so quickly. Added to that, and my features that looked different from everyone else, and then last night at the concert…" He wasn't sure if he wanted to go into that much detail about Aladdin Sane right away. "I talked to someone, and I found out who I am. Why did you want to pretend I was a human, though?"

"For a while, I wasn't even sure that you _weren't _human," Jack's mother said, leaning forward to stare into the distance. "I was… oh God. I was so fucked up the night I met your father that I didn't know later if the proof he gave me was real… Someone who knew my father, the same person who advised me not to have an abortion, told me that yes, your father was from another planet. But I wasn't sure who to trust anymore…"

Jack wanted to know if the elusive, mystical person that his mother had mentioned was Kylie's father, who had tracked his mother down and asked her to stay with him because he was interested in Jack. But he didn't know how to find the words to ask.

"And besides," Jack's mother breathed beside him, "I was _scared. _I thought that if I let it slip you were from another planet, someone would come to take you away. It nearly happened back on Earth. Now that you're all I have to rely on in life, Jack, I was too afraid to let anyone know… I had to keep your true nature a secret."

Jack nodded, thinking about the true Diamond Dogs and wondering if they would have attacked when he was a baby to bring _death to the Aresian!_

"Now," said Jack's mother, turning her head to look into his eyes, "can you forgive me?" She spoke as if her heart was breaking with the words.

Jack shrugged and nodded again. "I forgive you, Mom." The phrase felt like a rock in his mouth. He wasn't really sure if he forgave his mother; he just wanted her to be content.

"Can you tell me again about the night you met my father?" he asked. "I want to know everything you know about him." Now that Jack had discovered so much about his race from Aladdin Sane, he felt it was important to hear about the second-to-last Aresian who had brought about his existence. "And I want to hear about his death." Who on Earth would have murdered Jack's father? If rock and roll had been as huge there as it was in Hunger City, no one in their right mind would have killed one of Bog's Angels.

"Oh, Jack," his mother sighed. "Is this really the time?" She smoothed her hair back from her face.

"Yes," Jack said defiantly. "This is the time. Tell me everything."

And so Jack's mother did.

She started out with the familiar story Jack had heard since he was born- after breaking up with her boyfriend one night and moving out of her apartment, Jack's mother had gone to a concert that Jack's father was holding. After the concert, he had noticed her and taken her back to his apartment. But this time there was an embellishment that Jack had never heard before. "After having sex," Jack's mother said, still blushing lightly from the years-old memory, "your father began talking about how he couldn't die, ever. He got out of bed and got a knife to show me. I watched as he sliced his own wrist open, right down to the veins, and it knitted back up before my eyes. I was in shock… and since I was on drugs at the time, I didn't think it had been real. Of course, it didn't help that your dad was calling himself a Martian to get publicity for his music. But heroin was never a drug to cause hallucinations…"

_Heroin… Martian… _Jack's mind was set alight with these new additions to the old tale. "What do you mean by 'Martian?'" he asked his mother. "I-I was told today that I'm half-_Aresian_."

"Aresian…" Jack's mother repeated blankly. "I don't know about that, but your father referred to himself in public as a Martian, from the planet Mars, the fourth planet in Earth's solar system."

"I was told that the fourth planet in Earth's solar system was Ares," Jack said, confused. His mother didn't bat an eye before letting out an amused snort. "Ares… Mars… they're the same thing," she said, shaking her head at something that Jack didn't understand. He supposed that only those who had lived on Earth could get the joke.

Jack's mother continued with her story, and the room grew somber once again. "The day after I had sex with your father, he was stabbed to death onstage."

"_Onstage?" _Jack blurted, a flash of memory from last night's concert coming to him to embellish the fact of Jack's father's death that he had known about beforehand. He imagined three faceless assailants bearing down on Aladdin Sane and plunging their Bowie knives into him… For Aladdin Sane, it would be mercy, but for the concertgoers, it would be horrific.

Jack's mother nodded. "Yes, onstage. No one ever found out who did it. Apparently the people were wearing all black like his backing band and face masks…"

"I know," Jack said. He bent over and reached into the knapsack and his feet, pulling out the newspaper article about his father. "I read it here." Jack handed the article over to his mother, who blinked in surprise at the sight of it.

"Goodness, you still have that?"

"I've never let it go," Jack said.

"Well then," his mother said, sizing the article up and down, "there's not much else to tell you about. A week later I found out I was pregnant with you."

Jack nodded, thinking over the familiar story. Though he should have been satisfied, a large part of Jack was crying for more information. He wanted more personal tales about his father, the second-to-last Aresian, than his mother could provide him with. Jack tried to implore her to go further by giving his mother a gentle nudge to startle her out of the reverie she had apparently slipped into. "Mom? Isn't there- isn't there anything else you can tell me about him? About- about my dad?" He was too hopeful and he knew it, but there was no harm done in lifting his spirits.

Which then came crashing down as his mother shook her head with an air of finality. "I've told you all I know about him, Jack. I never knew if he was a good man or a bad man. I only met him for one night, and it was so long ago… and we were both so very, very messed up…"

She smoothed out the newspaper article and held it flat in both hands, gazing from the photograph of Jack's father to her son, back and forth. "You inherited the ears, and the skin," she said softly. "His skin was as pale as bone. I can remember that at least." Jack stiffened as his mother reached out to massage his hair. "You got my hair, though. His wasn't naturally red, but I don't know what color it really was." She paused, swallowed, and then added with a trace of bitterness in her tone, "You inherited his looks."

"I did?" Jack murmured, unconsciously reaching up to touch his face. "Are you sure about that?" He had never considered himself a handsome or attractive boy- the face he saw in the mirror every day was plain and so familiar to him now that he saw nothing remarkable in it whatsoever.

"Of course you did," Jack's mother said in amusement. She tousled Jack's hair, and he glared at her. "Your father… he was the most handsome person to have ever touched me. I'm no looker myself, of course."

"Don't say that," Jack said to mindlessly assure his mother. "You're beautiful." But looking upon her at that moment, he realized he didn't really think she was beautiful. She might have been attractive once, but stress and hardships had obviously taken a toll on her. Her face was aged beyond its years, dissimilar from the way Kylie's eyes were more mature than anyone else Jack knew. His mother had turned into an old woman prematurely.

She tried to take his hand once more, and this time he let her, leaning into her and then, with a bit of apprehension, laying his head on her shoulder. Jack's mother kissed the top of his head, her face etched in sadness, or a longing, a wish that things were different. "Jack," she said, emotion leaking out of her voice. "I…"

She fell silent for the longest time, and Jack let the silence stretch out before asking, "What?"

But his mother said nothing, and held him on the couch for a few more minutes before releasing him to stand up and ask, "How was the concert last night?"

Jack stood in the audience of rock and roll fans back at the Hole In The Wall, jumping up and down with his friends the false Diamond Dogs and cheering at the man who stood onstage, who this time was not Aladdin Sane. The man that stood at the microphone now, a smile on his face, was Jack's father Ziggy Stardust, his flame-red hair burning bright beneath the spotlights and his odd blue eyes connecting with the crowd, unlike Aladdin Sane's gaze that had been fixed to the wall in the back. Jack's father was singing one of Aladdin Sane's songs, however, up high in his vocal range. He closed his eyes and leaned forward to keen the song out better, and Jack felt intense pride swelling in him, to dissipate when he noticed several dark shadows moving up towards the stage. Gradually they materialized into creatures, and Jack let out a yell of surprise when he saw that they were the true Diamond Dogs, and they were gaining on his father. He tried to warn him, but his father continued to sing, the noise of his own voice in the microphone drowning out Jack's cries. Suddenly the Diamond Dogs leapt on him and knocked him over, biting through skin, ripping him open so that pale pink blood flowed… _Death to the Aresian!, _sounded the familiar threat. The concertgoers began to run, but Jack stayed in one place, desperately shouting to his father. The band continued to play the song, as if their hands were stuck. Then more Diamond Dogs appeared and fixed their cold, glittering eyes on Jack. He tried to run, but they cornered him and moved in for the kill…

Jack awoke drenched in sweat, his heart pounding a mile a minute and his bedsheets tangled up from thrashing about in his sleep. He sat straight up and rested his head on his hands, breathing hard, blinking around the dark room and telling himself over and over that it was only a dream.

After his heartbeat had slowed down and his eyes had adapted to the darkness, Jack slid back under the covers of his bed and pulled the sheet up to his chin. He lay enveloped in night, his eyes half-closed and his mind working overtime, thinking about his father. His mother may not have known his father very well at all, but Jack knew that there was someone in the city who had- Kylie's parents. If Jack wanted to know anything about his poor, disappeared father, he would have to talk to them right away.

All night, Jack could swear that he heard the howling of Diamond Dogs far away in the distance.


	11. Chapter 11

_Mom, _Jack wrote on a small shred of paper he found lying about in the kitchen. _I've gone to meet Kylie and have her introduce me to her parents. I'll try to be back by nightfall, but if I don't get there, don't worry._

They met each other on Poacher's Hill just as they had planned, Kylie dancing away under the warm sun and Jack staggering up the hill to meet her and join in the fun. Once he got to the top, Kylie dashed over to him with a smile and took his hands, leading him in her dance. They stopped when they were out of breath and collapsed on the green grass, staring down at the city together.

"So," Kylie said as a way of greeting, plucking a blade of grass from the ground and twiddling it between her fingers. "What did you do yesterday after I went home? Hung out with the Diamond Dogs?"

Jack leaned back on his hands and watched Kylie's hands play with the blade of grass, her legs sheathed in black jeans stretching out in front of her. He was glad for the return to her normal fashion style- Kylie had looked beautiful in her dress, but seeing her in a non-black outfit, with a skirt at that, was too unfamiliar a sight for Jack to handle. As he was considering her clothing choice, Kylie looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes drilling into him. "Well?"

Jack sighed, turning Kylie's query over in his head. He scratched his hair, reluctant to respond right away. _"Well," _he intoned heavily, "I talked to a few people who helped me figure out who and what I am."

"Oh?" Kylie said curiously. "Who did you talk to, Jack? What did you find out?" She let the blade of grass flutter to the ground and scooted next to him, bumping shoulders. Flipping her head underneath his, Kylie gazed into Jack's eyes, flustering him. "I want to know everything!"

"There's a lot of 'everything,'" Jack said, awkwardly trying to find a place to put his hands. Kylie scooted closer, so that she was practically sitting on his lap. Jack ended up draping his arms over her shoulders from behind, settling his hands on her thighs. The remembrance of the last time he had touched her made a shiver of heat run up his spine and tinged his cheeks pink.

"Okay then," Kylie said. "You don't have to tell me _everything." _She pulled out of Jack's embrace and sat down in front of him, crossing her legs beneath her. "Just tell me who you are."

"Well," Jack said, looking down at his hands, "the first person I talked to was Aladdin Sane- yes, _Bog," _he confirmed Kylie's look of interest, "and from him I found out that I'm not human after all. I'm apparently half human and half of a species called Aresian. Aladdin Sane is an Aresian too, the last one there is. I mean, with full blood."

"Oh," Kylie said, a note of revelation in her voice. "I thought he looked kind of like you… you know, the ears and skin and stuff." She reached up and rubbed her earlobe self-consciously.

"I talked with my mom too," Jack said, "and she confirmed that my dad was from another planet. So there you have it." He arrested the movement of his hands and looked up at Kylie. "Apparently, I'm half-Aresian."

"Who'd have thought?" Kylie snorted, flipping her hair back with her hand. She ran her fingers through it as a means of combing, saying while she did so, "Why didn't your mom tell you about that?"

"I don't know," Jack said, and he sincerely didn't. The claim that his mother had been afraid for her son's life seemed a feeble explanation. However, it was the only one Jack had to go by, and so he was forced to believe it.

"We had this long talk about my dad and about me," Jack said, looking up at the sky. "It's kind of disappointing that my mom doesn't know more about my dad. I mean, now that I know he's an Aresian, I kind of want to hear more about him. Especially after I talked to Aladdin Sane…" He blinked and dug his fingers into the grass, pointedly not meeting Kylie's gaze. "Do you know what Aladdin Sane told me? He said that Aresians are immortal, because they're ageless and our wounds heal so quickly…" Jack shook his head, still amazed and a bit worried. Did he inherit the immortal part of his Aresian heritage? What would that mean for him?

Kylie's voice responded with rich amusement. "Jack, are you trying to freak me out now? Drive me away from you because you're not human? Don't you remember what I said two nights ago?"

Jack nodded. How could he forget anything that had happened that night? "You said you didn't want anything to change our friendship."

"Yep," Kylie nodded. "Neither sex nor inhumanity can change us." She bumped Jack's knee in a friendly way with her hand, and Jack looked away from the clouds and into Kylie's eyes. "I'm your best friend, Jack, and you're mine. That's the way it's always going to be. By the way…" Her eyes danced, and she glanced away from Jack for a moment before looking back. "Did you tell your mom about the… concert?"

Jack smiled, knowing that Kylie didn't actually mean _the concert, _and then abandoned his smile with a sigh. "I told her about the actual concert, yes, and that I stayed out all night in a basement in the city. I didn't tell her about… you know…" He blushed, and cursed himself inwardly for blushing. "Us."

"I told my parents everything," Kylie said matter-of-factly. "It's okay, they don't hate you or anything. My mom got pregnant with me when she was eighteen, so…" She shrugged.

"Mm," Jack hummed noncommittally, letting his mind wander for a bit as he remembered the night of the concert and what had happened afterwards. The question was left unsaid- would it ever happen again? Jack tried to imagine never touching Kylie in the way he had touched her that night for the rest of his life, and felt his spirits sink. Of course it all depended on her, but he wouldn't have minded trying again…

To get his mind off of his confused relationship with Kylie, Jack brought up the topic that was most weighing down his mind. "Kylie, I want to meet your parents."

She inclined her head in his direction. "You do?"

"Yes," Jack said. "I…" He tapped his fingers against his foot. "I want to hear what they have to say about my dad."

As soon as Jack finished his sentence, Kylie sprung to her feet and stretched her arms wide, tipping her head back to face the sun. "Then what are we doing sitting around here?" she said. "Come on! Let's get going now!"

Jack stood up slowly, brushing his grass-stained jeans. "Are- are you sure they don't hate me?"

Kylie let out a peal of laughter. "They don't even know you! Come on, Jack. Come meet my parents."

"Say the words," Jack said, rolling his skate wheels back and forth, "and I'll follow you anywhere."

She spoke the eternal words. "Let's skate."

"You know what else I found out from Aladdin Sane, Kylie?" Hand in sweaty hand, they skated solitarily down the streets, keeping as always to the shadows. Jack had to swallow past the nervous lump in his throat to speak clearly. He hoped that Kylie wouldn't notice the moisture of his palms or the shaking in his legs, as she would probably laugh at him. _What are you afraid of?_

"What?" Kylie asked with an inquisitive squeeze of Jack's hand. Jack took a deep breath. Stupid nerves getting the better of him. He tried to concentrate on what he had been about to say, to take his mind off of meeting Kylie's parents.

"He told me that those dogs that keep attacking us are called Diamond Dogs," Jack said. Kylie responded with a soft giggle. "Ha! That's ironic."

"Maybe not," Jack mumbled, unsure of "ironic" was the correct word to use. "He also told me that they attacked him when he first came to this planet and nearly killed him. I think the dogs hate Aresians or something…" He trailed off, trying to make all the information he had received about the dogs fit in his mind. Where had the Diamond Dogs come from in the first place? Were they natives of this planet? And…

"Why would they hate Aresians?" Kylie voiced Jack's musings aloud. "Isn't Aladdin Sane the only Aresian who's still alive?"

"Yeah," said Jack, scratching his nose and feeling a cold, squishy sensation settle in the pit of his stomach. "I don't know why they want to kill us. They've threatened me in my mind whenever I've seen them."

"Really?" Kylie said, a twinge of worry peaking in her voice. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the last two times the Diamond Dogs attacked us, I heard a voice in my head," Jack said. "It said something like _'Death to the Aresian!' _both times. Aladdin Sane told me that he heard it every time he was attacked."

"Oh," Kylie breathed, and hooked herself closer to Jack, threading her arm through his arm. "Why in the world would they-" She suddenly switched to a more lighthearted topic, gasping with amused surprise. "Jack, you're shaking!" Jack exhaled loudly as Kylie pulled back from him and studied his vibrating body, letting out one burst of laughter. "Are you really _that _nervous?"

"Maybe," Jack muttered unconvincingly.

Kylie unleashed a particularly noisy snort, rolling her eyes. "I'll say it again, you have _nothing _to worry about. My parents don't bite- in fact, they're looking forward to meeting you."

"If you say so," Jack mumbled, and on they went.

Kylie's home stood at the far end of a cul-de-sac, the likes of which Jack had never seen. It was a two-story building with a long porch and shuttered windows, the exterior painted in all sorts of bright colors. Being the only non-gray building on the street, Jack couldn't stop ogling its idiosyncracy. Vibrant shades of red, purple, orange, green, and yellow were scrawled across the house's concrete, swirling into various patterns. Kylie, noticing Jack's dropped jaw, began to point out her favorite parts of the house's design as they came closer and closer to it. "My mom painted the door," she said, jabbing her finger towards it, "and she let me do the section right under that window. My dad painted most of it- it was his idea. He did a family portrait right there." Jack followed Kylie's finger with his eyes and widened them at the sight of four figures painted on the house, one man, one woman, and two girls. "My sister Eva helped him a lot with that," Kylie continued. "She did some paintings on the back of the house, too. What do you think?"

Still stunned by the sight, Jack blurted, "It's beautiful." Kylie smiled.

"Glad you like it. Now-" Her hand tore out of Jack's suddenly, and Kylie skated full throttle towards the house. "Race me!"

Jack followed at top speed, but Kylie still managed to beat him to the front steps. Once there, she removed her skates and instructed Jack to do the same. "My parents don't want the wheels scuffing up the floor." Jack felt more vulnerable than he ever had as he followed Kylie up to the porch in his sock feet. He closed his eyes and fought a wave of sickness as Kylie knocked on the door. "I'm home! Mom!"

The door slid open, along with Jack's eyes, just in time to catch sight of a woman who appeared to be about the age of Jack's mother, smiling broadly in the doorway. "Welcome back, Kylie," she intoned sweetly, reaching out to give her a hug. Jack shifted his weight from one leg to the other, looking on awkwardly. After Kylie had pulled away, the woman stepped onto the porch, her brown eyes trained on Jack. "And hello and welcome, stranger!" she smiled, and Jack felt his nerves start to ebb a bit with her warmth. "You must be the notorious Jack that I've heard so much about." Kylie grinned wickedly as the woman held out her hand, and Jack rubbed his damp palm on his jeans before shaking. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He offered a small smile, and the woman released his hand.

"I'm Kylie's mother, as you've probably figured out," she said. "You can call me Mylo. Come inside!" Mylo gestured to the open doorway with her hands, and Kylie took Jack's hand and tugged him into the house, smirking all the while.

Once inside, Jack let go of Kylie's hand, whirling about to face her. "How much did you tell your parents about me?" he asked, only half teasing. What kind of idea had they gotten from what she'd told them?

"Not much," Kylie said. "Don't worry, Jack, your reputation is squeaky clean." _Well, _thought Jack, remembering the basement… _kind of. _"Mom was just playing with you."

Mylo cast the door shut and turned around to face her daughter and her visitor. "Can I get you anything, Jack?" she asked. "Anything to eat or drink?"

"No, thank you," Jack said, taking a look at the room around him. Aside from a couch and a table with chairs, much like the ones Jack had at home, the main room was furnished sparsely. Paintings were hung up on the walls, and Jack found himself drifting over to them, observing the finely rendered faces. Each family member appeared to have their own portrait. There was a panting of Mylo, her eyes sparkling and her lips turned up in a kind, inviting smile. There was a painting of a man who Jack assumed to be Kylie's father, his eyes and smile a bit more serious and a book clutched in his hands. There was a painting of another girl, or rather a young woman, her face lacking a smile and done with so much familiarity that Jack could only guess she was the artist. And lastly, there was a panting of Kylie, dressed in a shirt that wasn't black for once and grinning impishly at her audience. Jack's gaze lingered fondly on the last portrait before he turned back to where Kylie was observing him with shrewd eyes. "Who painted these? Your dad?"

"No, my sister did them," Kylie said. "She's really talented. You know, you should meet her!" She rushed over to the stairway, and Jack was about to follow her when he noticed a distinct absence of someone. "Hey, where did your mom go?"

Kylie pointed to a doorway beside the kitchen area. "That's my dad's study. Mom went in there to get him." She jumped onto the first step of the stairway. "I'm going to get Eva. You should probably stay down here in case Mom and Dad come back."

"Okay," said Jack, and wandered over to the kitchen table while Kylie bounded up the stairs, examining its shiny, polished surface. In the faint reflection cast, Jack began to straighten his hair with his fingers, hoping that he didn't look too out of place. Just then Mylo returned from the study, a man trailing behind her who looked as if he had stepped out of the portrait on the wall. Jack straightened up and fought the urge to lean his elbows against the table. The man- Kylie's father- smiled as he approached Jack. ":Here you are at last," he said, a friendly flare of kindness in his eyes. "Ziggy's son."

At the mention of Jack's father's name, Jack perked up his ears. Kylie's father offered his hand, and Jack took it to shake. "It's nice to meet you, sir," he said hopefully. "My name is Jack Stardust."

"I know," Kylie's father laughed. "All of us know, in fact. Kylie's been talking about you." He let go of Jack's hand. "My name is Xyloto Martin, but you can just call me Xyloto."

_Kylie Martin… _Jack's best friend now had a full name. He nodded, and Xyloto sat down at the table, gesturing for Jack to do the same. "It's okay, you can sit here. I promise the chair won't break or anything."

Jack smiled- "I wasn't expecting it to," and sat. He played with his fingers while Xyloto stared at him and then leaned back, seemingly satisfied with what he found. "So," he said, choosing his words thoughtfully. "Are you here for pleasure or have you come to hear what we have to say about your father?"

Jack started, while Mylo swiveled her neck to laugh at Xyloto. "He's only just arrived, and you're already aching to grill him, I can tell!"

"Oh hush," Xyloto defended himself teasingly. "I'm not the only one who wants to know everything about the son of Ziggy Stardust." He turned his head ever so slightly to the side, blinking carefully at Jack. "You look a bit like him, you know?"

Jack finally found words to speak. "No, I don't." He gave a little laugh. "My dad was handsome. I'm not."

"I beg to differ!" cried a voice. Jack whipped his around to find that Kylie was coming downstairs, a young woman a few heads taller than her following after. She bore a startling resemblance to the young woman in the portrait on the wall, the one who had painted everything. Kylie led her sister into the kitchen and sat down next to Jack.

"This is Eva," Kylie said, gesturing to her. "My sister." Jack nodded- "It's good to meet you"- and held out his hand, but Eva did not take it. She frowned for a split second, staring so closely at Jack that he wondered crazily for a few seconds if she was blind. Then she blinked and walked towards the kitchen counter, her eyes still glued to Jack all the way.

Xyloto spread his hands, and Jack tried to turn his attention back to him. "Xyloto…" It felt odd to call Kylie's parents by their first names. And what kind of a name was "Xyloto," anyway?

"I came here to hear about my father," Jack said. "Kylie told me that you and Mylo used to know him personally."

From behind Jack, at the kitchen counter, the sound of glass smashing in the sink came erupting. Jack and Kylie turned to see Eva frantically scraping shards of broken glass out of the disposal. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry," she gasped, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Jack was surprised by her voice, which was flavored with an accent unlike the one he, Kylie, his mother, the Diamond Dogs, and Mylo and Xyloto had. It was an accent he had heard before in the city, and he wondered where it was from. Mylo came up to open a door beneath the sink. She patted Eva's shoulder softly before pulling a paper bag out from under the sink. "It's okay, Eva," Mylo said. "Why don't you go sit by the couch for now?"

Eva nodded and moved away from her mother, walking to the sofa. Mylo began shoveling the broken glass into the paper bag, and Xyloto cleared his throat to bring Kylie and Jack's attention back to him, tightness ringing his eyes. "We did used to know him personally," he said to Jack, and Jack leaned in, a nervous thrill racing through his body. At long last, he was finally going to learn who and what his father had been.

Xyloto looked back at Jack, his fingers flexing together, and then over to Kylie. "Kylie, I've never told you everything I knew about Ziggy Stardust, so there will probably be new information in what I'm about to tell Jack. How much have you already said to him?"

"Oh please," Mylo jabbed kindly as she replaced the paper bag under the sink and turned to face the group at the table, leaning on the counter. "Can't you wait and talk about something that won't take forever before we get into this? Why don't you ask Jack about himself? We barely know the boy."

_Funny, _Jack thought. _That's not the impression I got. _He shifted in his chair to look at Mylo. "Hasn't Kylie been talking about me?"

Both Kylie and Mylo began to giggle, and Xyloto let out a small chuckle of his own. "Not that much, Jack!" Kylie said, reaching over to take his hand and give it a squeeze. Jack froze at the contact, wondering what Mylo and Xyloto thought of it.

"All I told Mom and Dad," Kylie said, "was that you're my best friend with benefits, you're Ziggy Stardust and Haushinka's son, and you're a Diamond Dog. So yeah, I'd say they know next to nothing about you."

"What else is there to say?" Jack asked rhetorically. Kylie poked him in the ribs with her other hand. "Well, you _could _tell them that you're half-Aresian…"

"They already know that!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his free hand into the air. Kylie giggled again, and Xyloto spoke up. "Aresian? I don't believe I know what you mean by that."

Jack was about to ask how they could have known his father and not known what an Aresian was, when his mother's words from the night before came back to his ears. _"…your father referred to himself in public as a Martian, from the planet Mars, the fourth planet in Earth's solar system… Ares… Mars… they're the same thing."_

"It's the same thing as Martian," Jack explained. "My mom told me that last night."

Xyloto nodded. "I see. Well, it looks like we do know more than we thought we knew about you, Jack."

"I don't know much about _you," _Jack declared suddenly, boldly. "How did you meet my dad? How well did you know him?"

Xyloto's answer was suspended with the sound of heavy, labored breathing coming from the couch. He, Mylo, Kylie, and Jack looked over to see Eva sitting on the sofa facing the table, her hands gripping the back of the sofa so tightly that her knuckles were white and her eyes widened, her breath escaping between clenched teeth. Her eyes were fixated on Jack, unnerving him. The gaze was so intense that he could nearly feel flames churning where her vision touched him.

"Eva," Xyloto said, alarmed and uncertain. "If this is too much for you-"

"Oh, go ahead," she sighed, her voice stricken. "I've heard it all before. Go ahead, go ahead." Eva turned away, slumping back down on the couch, and Jack released a pent-up breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, looking once more to Xyloto.

"Please, Xyloto. Can you tell me about my father?"

Mylo came up to Xyloto's side and slipped into the seat next to him as Xyloto nodded and scratched his cheek. "I'm not the best person to talk to about him, but I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"Ziggy Stardust came to Earth to try and save it after learning that the planet had only five years left of its existence," Xyloto began. "He took up residence in England- that was a country on Earth- and decided to become a rock and roll musician. It was on his way to America to tour that the plane crashed-"

"What's a plane?" Jack interjected. Xyloto backtracked. "A plane was a craft designed to fly through the air, like birds. If you remember anything about Earth's Saviors' ships, it was a bit like that, except that airplanes couldn't get out of the atmosphere."

Jack nodded, the images of flying through outer space returning to his brain.

"Ziggy made it to shore in America, the country that Mylo and I- and you and your mother- came from on Earth," Xyloto continued. "A few days later, he met me, and I met Mylo on the same day. I was never very close friends with Ziggy, but there's no denying he was quite charismatic. I was living with a group of boys at the time who were much like your Diamond Dogs, and Ziggy took us by storm with his music. All my friends were held spellbound." To Jack it sounded like the false Diamond Dogs' obsession with Aladdin Sane.

"Mylo and I traveled with Ziggy for a brief time, in order to take him to his destination in America, a city known as Suffragette City that Mylo hailed from. We didn't hear from him again until a few months later, when the news came in about his death. You know about that, right?" Xyloto addressed Jack. Jack nodded. "Murdered onstage, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Xyloto said. "No one ever found out who did it, but I personally believe his band members grew jealous of his popularity and took revenge. Ziggy was huge in his lifetime- he and his band were the only music anyone wanted to listen to back then. What was important to remember was he didn't just make music. He was trying to save Earth, a planet he had little to no connection with, from destruction by preaching messages of hope through his songs. His one flaw was taking it all too far, as the papers said. With rock and roll came the inevitable sex and drugs, and Ziggy became immersed in them and soon forgot about his goal, caught up in the hedonistic day-to-day pleasures. Added with the fact that he was becoming too famous for his band, it's no surprise that what brought him joy ended up being his downfall." Xyloto sighed. "He was a true innovator, and a true martyr."

"May he rest in peace," Eva whispered from the couch.

Jack's head spun with the words used to describe his father. _Charismatic. Hugely popular. Innovator. Martyr. _The story was obviously familiar to Mylo and Xyloto, as they told it matter-of-factly. For Jack, it was vital information. He now knew exactly what kind of person his father had been when he was alive, and the vibrant image painted in his head filled him with sadness. If only he could have lived to see Jack…

"Wow," Kylie said beside Jack, her voice wrought with sorrow. "I had no idea he was murdered, or that he was trying to save Earth… That's terrible." She patted Jack's hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Jack muttered, looking down at the table. _I wish he could have met me. _If he had, would Jack have even gotten along with his father? What would they have said to each other?

"Just answer me, Xyloto," Jack said, looking up. "Was- was my dad… was he a good person?"

"Of course he was," Xyloto said calmly. "There's no denying that however far Ziggy was led astray, he remained a kind-hearted person at his core. I have good memories of him judging running races between myself and my friends- he was always willing to hang out with the teenagers. I think he was a bit of a child himself, though he was at least a million years old by the time we met him." Jack blinked, but he wasn't truly surprised, not after what Aladdin Sane had said. "I also remember him singing to Mylo and I one night as we traveled to Suffragette City. He had the greatest voice I had ever heard."

"You need to hear it yourself, Jack," Kylie said, switching positions to wrap her arm around his neck. Jack felt like shrugging her off, but he relished in the touch instead. "How can I?" He crossed his legs. "My father is dead."

"You've never heard of vinyl records?" Kylie said.

"No," Jack said. "What's that?" Then a flash of memory came back to him from two days earlier, which felt like a year ago- _"My parents have something called a turntable at our house, which plays vinyl records. These records have music on them, and I've heard a few really great singers."_

Kylie grinned. "Well aren't you in for a surprise. Wait here!" She got up and walked briskly towards another doorway, and Jack turned his attention back to Xyloto and Mylo, angling his eyebrows up questioningly. Xyloto chuckled.

"You'll see in time what she's talking about. Now…" He shifted position in his chair and took Mylo's hand. "Is there anything more you would like to know?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "When did you meet my mom? Kylie told me you went to see her and tried to convince her to come with you, but she refused. Mom didn't tell me anything about you, but I didn't know how to ask."

At that moment Kylie returned from the other room, clutching what looked like a large photograph in her hands. She sauntered triumphantly up to the table and sat down in her chair beside Jack, depositing the photo on the table. "This is your dad's album," Kylie said as Jack leaned in to take a look. "He recorded his music on it."

Jack stared at the photo with interested eyes. His father was on the front of it, standing before a city scene, his hair for once not bright red, but blond as Jack's mother had assumed it was naturally. Words ran over the top of the photograph- THE RISE OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS.

"If you put this in a turntable, you'll be able to hear his music," Kylie said.

"What's a turntable?" Jack replied. Kylie rolled her eyes and said nothing.

"I'm sure Kylie would be happy to show you once I've answered your question," Xyloto said. "It wasn't my idea to seek out your mother. A friend of ours, another musician who had been very close with Ziggy, informed Mylo and I about you. He said that we needed to make sure you survived the apocalypse that was coming to Earth, because you were Ziggy's son and the first half human, half Martian- excuse me, I mean Aresian- hybrid."

Kylie nudged Jack lightly. "He was the other musician I told you about- Pink Floyd. We have all his albums here somewhere."

"Yes, Pink Floyd," Xyloto said carefully, sliding his eyes towards the couch. Jack followed his gaze without turning his head, and saw that Eva had turned around on the couch and was sitting properly now, her hands in her lap and her head slumped. Quickly, Xyloto returned his gaze to Jack.

"After receiving advice on where to find your mother, I went off and discovered her living not too far from Suffragette City. I asked her to come with me and asked to see you, but she refused. She said she didn't know what I was talking about or who I was, and would only let me see you over her dead body. I think she thought I was trying to kidnap you, and she was afraid. I left unsuccessfully."

"That's exactly what she thought," Jack blurted. "Mom told me that she didn't tell me I wasn't human because she thought someone would come to take me away like you almost did."

"Ah," Xyloto said. "When you see her tonight, can you tell her I didn't mean to frighten her like that?"

Jack laughed once, wryly. "I don't know what she'd have to say about the fact that I met you today. She has no idea who you guys are."

"You should have invited her to come with you," Mylo suggested. Jack shook his head. "She doesn't like remembering the past. I don't think she'd want to come."

"Are you satisfied now, Jack?" Xyloto asked. Jack nodded slowly, his eyes on the so-called "vinyl record." He was already itching to hear what his father's voice had sounded like, what his father had to say…

"Can I go show him how a turntable works now?" Kylie asked, sliding her chair back and standing up.

Jack saw Xyloto suppress a grin. "Of course!" Kylie happily laid her hand on Jack's arm as he stood up and picked the album up. Together, they departed the main room, Kylie leading Jack through the door where she had retrieved the album.

"If you're both going to be in there, keep the door open!" Mylo called behind them. Kylie rolled her eyes in amused exasperation. "Okay, Mom!" She then lowered her voice. "It would be more helpful, I think, if they let us keep the door closed and gave you a condom. You ever had a lecture on safe sex, Jack?" Jack, lost for words, managed to shake his head no. "Never needed one."

"Me either, until yesterday," Kylie said, taking the record out of Jack's hands and moving towards a black plastic box with a glass top that sat upon a table. "It's horrible. Don't tell your mom anything about what we did if you don't want to be humiliated by The Talk." She slid the record, a black circlet with a small hole in the middle, out of its case and tossed the case to the side while Jack looked about the room. It was furnished with a wardrobe, a table that the turntable sat on, and a wide bed. He promptly sat down on it and watched silently as Kylie cleaned the record and opened the glass top of the turntable, setting the record inside it.

"Kylie?" Jack said quietly.

"Yes?" She didn't turn her head as she placed a metal arm with a needle at the end on the record.

Jack asked the question that had been burning him all day. "Will it ever happen again?"

Kylie swung the lid down and pressed a button on the turntable. A second later, a drumbeat rolled across the room, and Kylie turned around, a smile on her lips. "Is that loud enough for you?" Jack nodded.

"Good," Kylie said, and moved away from the turntable. "Wait a minute." She walked and departed the room, and Jack was left sitting alone on the bed, marveling at the crisp, loud sound that filled the place. It appeared to be coming from two wooden boxes with black gauze faces.

_Pushing through the market square_

_So many mothers sighing…_

"Can we please close the door?" Eva's voice sounded from the main room. Mylo answered her. "It's not going to hurt you to listen to Ziggy Stardust today. If it bothers you, go to your room."

Jack inched forward, losing himself in his father's strange voice.

_News had just come over_

_We had five years left to cry in_

"I can still hear it from up there," Eva complained.

Jack longed to shut the door and revel in the bliss of the music by himself. He didn't need to hear the voices in the main room. All that mattered to him now was one voice, and he closed his eyes in order to pay attention better.

The song grew and grew, building up tension that tightened up Jack like a coiled wire, until it was all expelled with the repeated refrain of "_Five years…" _Jack sighed deeply and leaned back, forgetting who he was, where he was. His father's voice became more and more ragged and broken with each new repetition, and Jack got the feeling he was crying, which both broke his heart and added a new layer of emotion to the song. When all was over, he opened his eyes to find Kylie standing before him, her expression for once uncertain and not twisted into a joyful grin. They stared at each other for a moment before the next song began, and Kylie's face lit up as she clasped her hands together. "Oh, I love this one!" She wandered around the room as Jack's father started singing once more.

_Still don't know what I was waiting for_

_And my time was running wild, a million dead end street signs…_

The listening experience continued that way for the rest of the day- Kylie popped in and out of the room for the first few songs, doing who knew what, and Jack remained riveted on the bed, held in place by his father's music, which in his mind was seriously starting to rival Aladdin Sane's. If only the false Diamond Dogs could hear this! They would worship Ziggy Stardust as one of Bog's Angels even more than before.

Kylie came to stay after the third song, but surprisingly, Jack wasn't glad to have her in the room. "New love," she intoned, singing along with the current song. "A boy and girl are talking… New words…" Kylie sat down on the bed and fell over backwards, curling over Jack, who was stretched out on the bed with his hands under his head and his head on the pillow, trying to concentrate on the music. "That only they can share in… New words…" She hugged Jack closely, and he shifted away from her a bit, trying to hear his father's voice beneath the voice that was singing in his ear.

"A love so strong it tears their hearts," Kylie finished the line, planting a kiss on Jack's chin. He flipped his head to look at her. "Does this mean you're in love with me too?"

Kylie didn't answer, and Jack enjoyed the song in itself for a few pleasant moments before she spoke up again. "How are you liking the album?"

"I'd like it more if you weren't talking to me when I'm listening to it," Jack said stiffly. Kylie froze, her face hardening. "Oh. Well, I'm sorry I'm ruining your experience," she muttered peevishly under her breath. Jack had to wait for the chorus of the song to be over before speaking again, his voice lowered so that he could speak and still listen to the music.

"I'm sorry if I offended you," he said to Kylie. "But I've never heard these songs before, and I just really want to listen in peace. You can stay here if you want, but don't talk to me." Kylie nodded and unwrapped herself from Jack's body, rolling onto her side with her back facing Jack. She tapped her finger against the bed to the beat of the song until it was over, and a new tune began.

"This one is Eva's favorite of Ziggy Stardust's songs," Kylie said softly. "It makes her cry for some reason." She fell silent and Jack listened with earnest, enjoying the verse and then feeling his heart jump at the lift of the chorus.

_There's a starman, waiting in the sky_

_He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'll blow our minds_

_There's a starman waiting in the sky_

_He's told us not to blow it, 'cause he knows it's all worthwhile_

_He told me-_

"_Let the children use it! Let the children lose it! Let all the children boogie!"_

"Starman…" the very title of the song brought a tender smile to Jack's face. His father, the person from another planet… Outside the room, he could hear Mylo murmuring, "Oh, Eva," and then the sound of violent footsteps as apparently Eva got up and fled the room. Jack frowned a bit and tried to get his mind back onto the song. Once it was over, he said, "I think that one was my favorite too."

"But wait!" Kylie cried, rolling off the bed and onto her feet. "There's more! It's time to turn the record over." She went to the turntable and lifted the top, and Jack sat back calmly, enjoying himself. He felt that he could spend the rest of the day at Kylie's house, listening to his father sing to him on record.

Thinking about his father led Jack to think about Mylo and Xyloto, and then about the mystifying Eva. Although Jack had only just met her and had barely said more than a sentence to her, she seemed to be horrifically fascinated with him. Maybe it was just the fact that he wasn't human and the son of a famous rock singer to boot, but Jack had an odd sneaking suspicion that Eva's interest with him went deeper than that. He thought about her portraits on the walls in the main room, and suddenly a thought occurred to him that he had to ask Kylie about.

"Hey, Kylie?"

She flipped the record over. "What?"

"How old is your sister?" Jack asked.

Kylie paused for a moment. "She's twenty-two."

A piece of information that Kylie had told Jack entered his head. _My mom had me when she was eighteen…_

"So she's six years older than you?" Jack said, counting quickly.

"Yeah…" There was a note of wariness in Kylie's voice.

"So your mom had her when she was _twelve?!"_

Kylie stayed immobile in one place before setting the record down, putting the needle on it, and then pressing the button. She crept back to the bed and sat cross-legged at the end of it as a rocking song came blaring out of the boxes beside the turntable.

"My mom didn't have Eva at all," Kylie said. "But we don't like talking about it."

The song was lush with backing vocals, and Jack enjoyed it greatly. _I could do with the money- you know that I could. I'm so wiped out with things as they are! I'd send a photograph to my honey, and I'd c'mon like a regular superstar._

There were four more songs- the last one, Kylie informed Jack, was a cover of another band from the planet Earth, "A Day In The Life" by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band- and then the record ended as Jack quietly picked himself off the floor, thrown down by the force of the earth-shattering piano chord at the very end. Kylie got up to take the record off, but Jack got to the turntable before her and carefully removed the needle, then took the record in his hands and slipped it back into its sleeve and then its case. He stared at the picture of his father on the cover with a newfound knowledge. _My father was the greatest rock musician to have lived. I am the Child of Bog._

"That's it, then?" Jack said, turning back to Kylie and clutching the record tightly in his hands as if it was his lifeline. The sun was starting to set, bathing the bedroom in golden light.

"That's basically it," Kylie said. "Unless you want to hear two more." She got up and fell to her knees by the table, searching a stack of records underneath it until she found the one she wanted, which was much smaller than the average record. Jack sat down as Kylie opened the lid of the turntable one more time. "This is a single," she said. "There's only two songs on it. I think you'd like side B more than side A." She cleaned the single and put it on, pressing the button. "I know I do, anyway."

Jack curled up in a ball on the bed and waited as Kylie came to snuggle next to him. Wrapped up tight together in each other's arms, they listened to the song as one being, hearts beating in time.

To Jack's surprise, his father's voice was heard introducing the song. "Maybe I should announce this one, should I?" he said timidly. "'Memory of a Free Festival.'"

_The Children of the summer's end_

_Gathered in the dampened grass_

_We played Our songs and felt the London sky_

_Resting in our hands_

_It was God's land_

_It was ragged and naïve_

_It was Heaven_

The song was made solely of Jack's father's voice and a soft, shimmery instrument in the background. Jack felt warmth take ahold of each limb, and he hugged Kylie closer, melting into her. He was assaulted with a successive cacophony of sound that suddenly broke apart with a repeated chant involving his father and numerous other voices.

_The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party! Ah-ah-ah!_

_The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party! Ah-ah-ah!_

_The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party…_

At the mention of the word "Sun Machine," Jack's mind's eye brought him back a flash from his childhood. The Saviors of planet Earth, now recognized as Venusians according to both the lyrics of this song and the words of Aladdin Sane, were piloting a huge, rollicking ship through the night sky… but it wasn't just the night sky, the stars were both above and below him, and he was scared because he couldn't breathe, but curious of the Venusians all the same. He was taking steps forward towards them, and just as they turned their heads to stare at him-

_The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party… _

The song faded into nothingness. Jack opened his eyes to find himself in darkness, his breath rasping loudly in his throat. Kylie roused beside him, disentangling herself from his body. "You all right, Jack?" she asked lightheartedly, rubbing his rib cage and stretching out her other arm with a yawn.

Jack couldn't speak for the lump in his throat. He tried to swallow it, but it made him choke. Kylie patted him again and lay her hand against his body. "Jack?" There was a touch of concern in her voice now. "Are you okay?"

He sat up and kept his back to Kylie, staring at the watery bright lights coming from the main room and still clutching his father's album desperately.

"What's wrong?" Kylie asked, now entirely worried. She took Jack's hand, trying to get a reaction, and he expelled a deep and long sigh.

"I…" Jack whispered. "I wish I could have met my father."

Kylie leaned her head against Jack's shoulder, kissing his neck once. "I know," she said softly, soothingly. "I wish we could have too." Jack turned his head, blinking at Kylie in the darkness, and leaned in. Their lips met hesitantly, and only for a few seconds before the lights blinked on in the room and Kylie and Jack were startled apart by the sight of Xyloto, who peered at his daughter and her friend as if he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

"Thought you needed a little light in here," he said uneasily. "What have you two been up to in here?"

"Nothing too scandalous," Kylie said coolly, jumping up and moving towards the turntable. "I played 'Memory of a Free Festival' for Jack."

Xyloto nodded. "That's a good one. How did you like the music, Jack?"

"I loved it," Jack said heavily. "I wish we had a turntable at home. I'd like to borrow this…" He tapped his father's album with two fingers.

"You'd still need me to help you work it," Kylie said snidely, replacing the single in its case. Jack shrugged, and Xyloto made a step away from the doorway. "Speaking of home, Jack, do you think it's time for you to go off now? Mylo is about to start dinner."

"Oh," Jack said. "I guess my mom's gonna get worried." He stood up and stretched out his limbs, exhausted as if he'd just run a marathon instead of lain on a bed and listened to music. Jack's father's music was so emotionally engaging that it had drained Jack of all energy just to hear it.

Kylie went over and took Jack's father's album out of Jack's protesting hands. She laid it lovingly on top of the stack of records under the turntable's table and turned around, waiting for Jack. Jack went over to her, and together they followed Xyloto back out into the main room. Eva had returned, and she and Mylo were washing dishes, preparing to cook dinner. Jack went to the front door and shook Xyloto's hand. "It was great meeting you and hearing about my father, Xyloto," he said. "I'd like to come over some other time."

"We'd love to have you again!" Xyloto exclaimed, as Mylo dried her hands on a dish towel and came over to stand by her husband. "Maybe next time you can bring your mother and convince her that I meant her no harm back then."

Jack laughed. "Maybe." He wasn't sure if his mother would go in for that. Mylo approached Jack and leaned in, giving him an enormous surprising hug. "It was so nice having you as a guest, Jack," she said. "Feel free to come over any time you want."

"Ugh, Mom," Kylie groaned, sidling up to her parents. "Stop hugging him! You're embarrassing me!"

"You're not embarrassing _me,"_ Jack muttered from somewhere within Mylo's bosom, and she released him, her brown eyes sparkling and dancing and all of a sudden reminding Jack so much of Kylie's eyes.

"Oh, it's all right," Mylo said. "I have my own boy right here." She leaned in to Xyloto and nuzzled him, and he smiled and gave her a kiss on the lips. Kylie groaned even louder, but Jack was struck by the sweetness of this gesture. Staring at Xyloto and Mylo together, he noticed how happy Mylo looked in comparison to his mother, who rarely smiled, and began to realize what it was that she was missing in her life. Looking upon Xyloto, Jack began to get a sense of what he himself was missing in his.

"Well," Jack said, turning to the door. "It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me."

"You're very welcome," Mylo said, and Xyloto added his agreement.

"See you tomorrow morning on Poacher's Hill," Jack said to Kylie, and she smiled and nodded. With that, Jack opened the door to the house- and found himself staring into the glowing eyes of Diamond Dog upon Diamond Dog upon Diamond Dog.

Jack slammed the door quickly, his heart pounding, and just as Xyloto asked, "What is it, Jack?," the sound of dogs barking rose up, followed by the sensation of dogs beating themselves against the door. Jack looked to Kylie, whose face was drained of color. "The Diamond Dogs," they said in unison.

"What are you talking about?" Mylo said. Jack turned to her and Xyloto, speaking quickly. "There's a pack of dogs that lives in this city who want to murder me. Aladdin Sane told me they nearly killed him when he first came to this planet." The dogs howled at the door, and Mylo and Xyloto stared blankly. Jack cursed inside of his brain- the name "Aladdin Sane" would probably mean nothing to them. "All you need to know," he blurted, "is that those dogs are powerful and they're trying to kill me!"

The door shuddered under the weight of the Diamond Dogs, who were flinging themselves at it. Xyloto was the first to react. "We have to get to a safe place. Jack, do you think they'll be able to break the door down?"

"If they want to, yes," Jack said, his heart racing. _And then they'll murder me… _Kylie grabbed Jack's hand in silent reassurance.

"Okay." Xyloto's green eyes were full of worry, but he pushed it back. "It'll be just like the old days of the gang, eh, Mylo?" Though tension was running high, the couple managed to smile at something only they understood. Then the door shuddered again in its frame, this time with more force, and Xyloto grabbed Mylo's and Kylie's hands and dragged them towards the bedroom, Eva coming after and Jack being towed along beside Kylie.

"Come on!" Xyloto yelled. "We don't have much time!"

"No!" Kylie screamed, ripping her hand away from Xyloto's. "I won't go! I want to fight!" She dashed back to the main room, and Jack ran after her.

"Kylie, it's too dangerous! They have the house surrounded! We need to go with your parents!" Though where in the bedroom would be a perfect safe spot for the dog attack, Jack had no idea.

"I'm not going to run and hide!" Kylie answered, reaching into her fanny pack and drawing out a Chinese star. The dogs were baying for blood at the window, and the door kept on shuddering, its movement coming faster now as more and more Diamond Dogs threw themselves at it. Kylie looked to Jack, begging him with her eyes to come with her. Then a deep, booming voice spoke, encompassing the entire house.

_Surrender the Aresian and none of you will get hurt. _Even without seeing the Diamond Dog's face, Jack knew that the statement was a rotten lie. Of course they were going to kill Kylie's family. Why would they have brought so many of them with them if they were going to stop with Jack?

Realizing somehow- but how?- that Jack had discovered its lie, the voice switched tactics, growing so loud that Jack fell to his knees on the floor, clutching his ears in pain. _COME OUT OF THERE, ARESIAN. OR WE WILL COME IN AFTER YOU._

"No!" Jack shouted, clawing at his ears to make the voice go away. "Kylie- Kylie, we have to run! We have to run _now!"_

"Come back, Kylie!" Xyloto called from the bedroom. "We're going to be safe in here, I promise!"

Kylie, her face as smooth as a pool of undisturbed water and her back as straight as an arrow, played with the Chinese star in her hands and refused to listen to her father or her best friend. "Come on, Jack," she said in a strangely subdued voice. "It won't do us any good sitting around hiding from the Diamond Dogs. We have to fight them back and beat them down permanently so that we'll never have Diamond Dogs to hide from in the first place."

"I won't leave without you!" Jack screamed.

Kylie smiled enchantingly. "And I won't leave until we've beaten them." With that, the door broke into chips of wood as the Diamond Dogs forced their way inside, flooding the house and making straight for Jack.

Jack whipped out his Bowie knife and ran for the stairs. This battle certainly had him at a disadvantage, more so than any other battle. For one thing, he had nothing to protect himself from bodily harm, and for another, he was missing his skates that would give him speed (though they might prove to be a hindrance when going up stairs). The Diamond Dogs followed Jack up the stairs, barking at his feet. From behind him, he heard the sound of metal whizzing through the air, along with occasional yelps of pain- Kylie was hitting her targets.

At the top of the stairs, Jack screamed Kylie's name one more time. She forced her way through the fray and tried to follow Jack to the top of the stairs, but there were too many Diamond Dogs blocking her way. Jack was momentarily overcome by them, and had to fight with his knife, receiving bites and scratched along the way, but none too deep for him to not recover from. Kylie emerged looking terrified as more and more Diamond Dogs swarmed over her, and as Jack backed against the wall to fight off the next oncoming wave he heard her voice screech above the din. "Poacher's Hill!" Jack nodded and yelled back in agreement, "Poacher's Hill!" and then turned tail and ran for his life. He made it to the room down the hall a second before a Diamond Dog jumped on him, and slammed the door closed. Looking around briefly, he noticed that this was Eva's room- the walls were littered with paintings, but Jack had no time to stop and appreciate any of them. The Diamond Dogs were working on breaking through the door, and this one was far thinner than the one downstairs. The only way out that Jack could see was through the window. He ran to the window and pushed it open desperately- and then gulped in fright. The ground far below contained a group of three Diamond Dogs, who looked ready to kill Jack on the spot.

The decision had to be made- would Jack rather die torn apart by Diamond Dogs, or would he rather jump to his death and have the Diamond Dogs devour him? Granted, the ground didn't look too far away, but the three Diamond Dogs severely worried Jack. Then he remembered that Kylie had fought off more than three of them herself with nothing but her collection of Chinese stars. To the ground it was, then; at least Jack had more of a chance that way. He took a deep breath and launched himself out the window, towards the gaping maws of the Diamond Dogs below.

As Jack fell, he covered his head with his arms to protect his neck and tucked his shoulder under him to avoid breaking his legs. He hit the ground with a hard thud and rolled onto his side, curling into a fetal position. Winded, struggling for breath, and feeling excruciating pain in his shoulder, Jack's hand still managed to tighten around the Bowie knife, and he tried to make an effort to stand up in case the Diamond Dogs were about to descend upon him. But oddly enough, the attack didn't arrive for another few seconds. Jack took the time to push himself up with his other arm and squatted on the ground to see what had delayed the Diamond Dogs. To his amazement and complete joy, several dark figures were moving wildly about, fighting off the Diamond Dog and yelling gleeful death threats. "Snuff it, grahzny dogs! We will oobivat you for trying to vred our brother the Child of Bog!" Jack's heart lifted at once as he recognized the voices. The false Diamond Dogs were here and ready to protect him!

Jack dashed into the fight, just as the Diamond Dogs, who had broken down the door to Eva's room, came sailing out of the window and onto the ground. Jack didn't care about their multiplication, however- with the addition of the false Diamond Dogs, it had turned into a fair fight. "Brother Jagger!" he yelled as he stabbed at a dog with his knife, taking care not to move his arm any more than he had to. "Why are you here, my droogie? Like defending me and such?" Together they moved in sync to bring one dog down, and Jagger cackled insanely.

"We are here to defend you indeed, Child of Bog! The dogs attacked us in an alley and we had to find you and save you!"

Their conversation was cut off for a moment to bring another dog down, and then Jack said, "How did you know I was here?"

A dog came bounding up, and Jagger tackled it, with Sledge's (who had been fighting nearby) help. When they had wrestled it off, Jagger shouted, "We just knew! Now, droogies, it is time to itty off! OUT OUT OUT!"

"Where to?" Widdy shouted from somewhere behind Jagger.

"Poacher's Hill!" Jagger grabbed Jack by his injured arm, and Jack screamed in pain as Jagger tugged on him. "What is wrong, Child of Bog? Are you like hurt?"

"Yes!" Jack shouted. "Never mind! OUT OUT OUT!" They hurried off, the Diamond Dogs howling at their feet and screaming on Jack's mind. _DEATH TO THE ARESIAN! DIE, DIE, DIE!_

"Where are like your skates, brother Hallowe'en Jack?" Jagger cried as they fled through the night, Jack panting and sweating beside him as he tried to keep up. Jack shrugged, having no time to answer the question, and winced as the movement triggered pain to flare up in his injured arm.

The eternal question of "_will they come?" _had been answered. The Diamond Dogs had finally come, and were bringing death and destruction in their wake. Everywhere in sight, innocent passersby who were hurrying off to their homes screamed as the Diamond Dogs descended on them, tearing them to pieces and feasting on their blood. The prostitutes that walked the streets wailed and tripped over their high heels in the midst of the Diamond Dogs' chase. The clubbers who were queued up to see Aladdin Sane and All of Bog's other Holy Angels scattered in terror, racing through the streets. And within the Hole In The Wall, Aladdin Sane himself was preparing for his concert, oblivious to the danger going on outside.

He applied his face makeup with a shaking hand, and blinked in mild exasperation. His hands always seemed to be shaking now, and he dreaded what this could mean for himself. Not only could it be a sign that the Aresians' healing power might not be working its wonders on him for alcohol overdoses after all, but the consequences of such a thing could be disastrous. How was he to pull the trigger when it came time for his death if his hand was trembling so badly? Sighing, Aladdin Sane put the white paint away and searched his dresser for eye shadow and mascara. He didn't like having to wear makeup for these shows, but in order to shock and awe the crowd he had to look the part of the rock and roll God they believed him to be.

Aladdin Sane was halfway through applying the finishing touches to his eye shadow when he heard the sounds of shouting and barking drifting through the door. Quick as a flash, Aladdin Sane opened the vanity's drawer and took out his loaded pistol, forgetting in the heat of the moment, as he always did, that the single bullet inside of it was meant for him. A split second later, he remembered and spun the pistol slackly around in his hand, listening intently to the noises beyond his dressing room's door. It hadn't been his imagination or a product of the vision that had been floating before his eyes more often recently- there really were dogs barking outside, and their voices were getting louder and louder. Then a voice in his head cried _ARESIAN!, _and Aladdin Sane was knocked violently through the years in his memory, back to the time when he had first been attacked by those evil Diamond Dogs…

He spun around and faced the mirror, his face reflecting the extreme fear he felt inside. Leaning forward, Aladdin Sane dug the cold pistol into his chest for comfort, his hands growing sweaty. The dogs began to throw themselves at the door- _bang! Bang!- _and Aladdin Sane closed his eyes, letting his second sight take over entirely.

_He was standing in front of the mirror in his dressing room, his breathing speeding up and his hands clutched tight around the gun in his hand, its barrel angled towards his heart that would not stop beating. The voices of the Diamond Dogs sounded terrifyingly in his head. _We will murder you, filthy Aresian. The first time was not the last. You always knew we would be coming back for you. You could see it in your head. Now we are here to make your nightmare-dreams come true. _The cruel, all-too-human laughter of the Diamond Dogs surrounded him, and he swallowed hard and gripped the pistol tighter, feeling a trickle of sweat roll down his forehead. _I will never give in, _he thought angrily towards the Diamond Dogs. _I will never give in. _But their laughter filled his head even louder, and he began to doubt himself. Did he have the nerve to kill himself, or would he give the Diamond Dogs their long-awaited wish for death at their own paws?_

Aladdin Sane opened his eyes and felt tremors rocking through him as the Diamond Dogs pummeling the dressing room door began to shout in his head, the exact same words he had heard them speak so many times before in his vision. This was it, then. This was the exact moment he had seen happen so many times, only now he was living in it. Aladdin Sane squeezed the pistol tightly, swaying on his feet at the sound of the Diamond Dogs' horrific laughter. All these years, and he had never known just how scared he would truly be. Every instinct, every bone in Aladdin Sane's body was screaming at him to run. But run he could not, with the door being blocked by the Diamond Dogs. And run he would not, as he knew what was to come.

The door shuddered on its hinges. Any moment now the Diamond Dogs would come rushing into the dressing room, and Aladdin Sane still hadn't made up his mind about how he was going to die. Why hadn't his vision given a clearer view of it? On the one hand, Aladdin Sane hated the thought of allowing those terrible dogs to win- he at least wanted to die with grace and dignity and not as some martyr, giving the dogs the satisfaction of destroying the Aresian they so hated. But on the other hand, Aladdin Sane shied away from the idea of killing himself. So many people on Ares had done the same to themselves, succumbing to the depression that each member of the race had in varying degrees. He wondered weakly whether it was worth it to pull the trigger.

But then the door shuddered tremendously once again, and Aladdin Sane's mind was made up. They were coming. "Oh, Bog preserve me," Aladdin Sane whispered, and forced himself to pull the trigger. He slumped to the floor just as the dogs came bursting into the room, flowing over and shredding his dead body.

Once out on the main street, the false Diamond Dogs were joined by other teenagers who lived in Hunger City, and began to fight off the true Diamond Dogs in hordes. Jack, exhausted already from running and with his shoulder wound aching, could barely handle more conflict. As the false Diamond Dogs worked at driving the true Diamond Dogs back with joyful yells, Jack shouted in Jagger's ear. "Oh my brother Jagger! I must itty off to Poacher's Hill at once! I believe sister Kylie is ittying there as well."

"Be careful, Child of Bog!" Jagger yelled back, kicking a Diamond Dog in the ribs. "Be _very very very _careful." His voice was intensely worried, and Jack longed to assure him, but there was no time to spare. He said a hasty goodbye and a "Promise you'll meet me on Poacher's Hill when this is over," and then took off on sore feet, ready to fight his way to the other side of town.

The rest of the night consisted of a ferocious struggle past the dogs to get to Poacher's Hill. Jack didn't see why, if they wanted to kill him so badly, they didn't just leap at him and finish him off. He was only armed with a knife. But then again, no matter where he went there was always a teenager to dash out of the shadows with a cry of "Child of Bog!," who would then help him fight off the next wave of Diamond Dogs. Jack was astonished that he should be so recognized to the teenagers- Jagger's word must have gotten around quickly. He never said a word to the teenagers, just let them distract the dogs while he made for his final destination- Poacher's Hill.

In the end, Jack finally found himself at the edge of town, stumbling about looking for a Diamond Dog to sink his knife into. It took him a long time to recover from combat mode, and he sheathed the knife and checked himself for wounds. Several places on his arms and legs were bleeding, but they would heal. Jack began to scale Poacher's Hill, clutching at his wounded shoulder the whole way. He was sure he had sprained it, or maybe torn a ligament of some sort.

Up on Poacher's Hill, Jack fell to the ground with a sigh. He buried his face in the cool grass and lay down for a moment before sitting back up and bunching his knees up to his chest, then wrapping his arms around them. Jack sat on Poacher's Hill by himself for the rest of the night, waiting for Kylie to show up. But she never did.


	12. Chapter 12

The morning sun woke Jack with its heat. He opened his eyes and lifted a hand to scratch his face, feeling as he did so the formation of new scars there. All at once the day before came rushing back to him- meeting Kylie's parents, listening to his father's music, getting attacked by the true Diamond Dogs… Jack sat up, and found as he did so that his shoulder no longer hurt. His healing abilities had worked their magic. Jack's shirt and jeans were dappled with pink and green from blood and grass, and his hair was a mess. Running his fingers through his hair to get the grass bits out, Jack looked over the hill to see if anyone had come to join him in his sleep. But he was alone, just as he had been last night, and Jack's heart fell. What had happened to Kylie, her family, and the false Diamond Dogs? What had happened to Kylie and her family? _What had happened to Kylie?_

Just as Jack was debating whether or not he should get up and go home to find his mother, he caught sight of a person advancing up the hill from the side that faced Hunger City. As the figure came closer and closer, Jack caught sight of his sun-bleached blond hair and the fur on his coat, and knew immediately it was Jagger. He called out to his friend. "Hey, brother!"

Jagger did not look up in response to Jack's call. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, and he trudged up the hill with his head down. Once Jagger had gotten to the top, he eyed Jack from above for a few moments before plopping down himself, doubling his knees up to his chest. Jack stretched his own legs out and observed Jagger- the new open cuts on his face, arms, and legs, the bloodstained fur coat, and the dejected look in his eye.

"Hi hi hi there, brother Hallowe'en Jack," Jagger mumbled, his eyes still downcast. He tugged at the laces on his skates.

"You are looking quite the like worse for wear, brother," Jack said. "Did you ookadeet the bitva all right?"

Jagger said nothing in response to this as he continued to mindlessly pluck at his shoes. Then he spoke in a low voice, looking out at the ravaged Hunger City skyline. "Aladdin Sane has snuffed it. I viddied his plott with my own glazzies, razrezzed to bits by those vicious, vonny dogs…"

Jack froze. _Not Aladdin Sane! _Not the man who had introduced him to music. Not the only living full-blooded member of his race. Not him. Not here. Not now.

"He was oobivatted?" Jack whispered, feeling like a candle that had been blown out. "By who? The Diamond Dogs or himself?"

Jagger shook his head, his face twisting up in pain. He hugged his knees to his chest and laid his head down on them, trying and failing to suppress a sob. Jack scooted close to Jagger and wrapped an arm around him in comfort. Together they mourned Aladdin Sane, Jagger choking on his tears and Jack letting his sorrow leak out silently through his body and into Jagger's. Finally Jagger pulled away from Jack and wiped his eyes, dragging the palms of his hands down his face.

"It was the dogs, oh my brother," he whispered to Jack, his voice trembling. "The cally, grahzny dogs…"

Jack nodded, looking out at the Hunger City skyline. So Aladdin Sane had let the Diamond Dogs kill him in the end. It gave Jack a strange relief as well as sadness to know that at long last, Aladdin Sane had finally found peace in death.

"If the great and powerful Bog has snuffed it, who is going to lead us?" Jack said.

Jagger gave him a look. "You are the Child of Bog, Hallowe'en Jack. You must lead us."

They sat for a few more moments in silence, Jagger waiting for his false Diamond Dogs and Jack waiting for Kylie. But no one else showed up, and so Jack bid Jagger farewell and walked off in the direction of his home.

All the way down the old asphalt road to the Manhattan Chase building, Jack grew more and more apprehensive about what he would find there. Had the Diamond Dogs gone as far as to launch an attack on his home? What would his mother think now that he had stayed out at night for a second time without telling her? He was shaking with nervousness by the time he reached his home. The front door was still closed, which gave Jack hope- if the Diamond Dogs had been here, they would have knocked the door in to get inside. Approaching the door, Jack opened it and stepped inside, looking around the main room. "Mom?"

His mother was standing at the kitchen sink, a glass of water in hand and a bottle of some kind of pills in the other. As she always did when Jack came in, she whirled about to face her son, relief lighting up her face. "Jack," she murmured breathlessly, throwing the pills down and setting the glass on the counter before rushing up to him and taking him in her arms. "Where the hell were you?!"

"I'm sorry, Mom," Jack murmured, holding her tightly in return. He was surprised at just how good it felt to be hugged. He didn't want her to let go of him, ever.

"I was in the city," he whispered. "I went to meet my friend Kylie's parents."

Jack's mother started to pull away, but Jack gripped her tighter, and with surprise, she complied and continued to hold him, rubbing his back.

"You know how I told you about Aladdin Sane?" Jack murmured. "The last living Aresian? There's something else he told me that I forgot to mention to you."

Jack pulled out of his mother's arms and stared into her eyes. His stress was reflected on her face. She silently urged him to keep talking.

"There's this pack of dogs," he said. "They're called the Diamond Dogs, and they're an entirely different species from humans, Aresians, or Mercurians. I think they have some kind of vendetta against Aresians, and they're trying to kill me. They nearly did last night. They've taken over the city completely."

Silence. Jack's mother bit her lip.

"What do we do now?" she said.

Jack knew exactly what his mother meant. They had plenty of food supplies to last a week in their kitchen, but when the week was over… And what if the dogs figured out that Jack wasn't in the city before then, and came looking for him at his home?

"I don't know," Jack said, backing towards the table and pulling up a chair. "We'll starve here if the siege doesn't end before the week is over." He sat down heavily, thinking about the false Diamond Dogs and about Kylie and her family. Worries consumed him- had Kylie gotten out of last night's battle okay? Was she at Poacher's Hill that minute, waiting for Jack? Where had her parents gone to that was safe? What would happen to the false Diamond Dogs?

Thinking about his friends reminded Jack of what Jagger had told him that morning. _You are the Child of Bog, Hallowe'en Jack. You must lead us. _Clearly Jack was now to be hailed as Bog in Aladdin Sane's place, but he was reluctant to accept that title. Jack had no idea how to lead the Diamond Dogs. He had no idea how to lead _anyone. _What could he possibly do to ensure his friends' safety?

As an answer to his ponderings, an idea began to form in Jack's mind. The false Diamond Dogs were most likely still up on Poacher's Hill, or at least Jagger was, having found no safer place to be when the true Diamond Dogs were laying siege to the city. Right now Jack's home seemed like a good place to hole up and wait out the oncoming siege, even if inviting guests meant that the food supply would be running lower. Jack played with the idea of taking the false Diamond Dogs to the Manhattan Chase building. It was the least he could do to protect them and to repay them for saving his life the night before.

"Mom," Jack said. She had turned her back once more and was rolling the white plastic bottle of pills around in her hands. Jack caught the name ASPIRIN on the label, and was momentarily distracted. "Um, what were you doing with that medicine?"

His mother set the bottle down. "It's just something to ease my pain." She turned around to look at Jack, her eyes reflecting the soul that was on fire inside her.

"Mom, I have something else to tell you that I didn't before," Jack said. "When I first starting going into the city by myself… I met a group of boys. They're about my age, and they helped me get food. I didn't have a job or anything like that."

His mother nodded, knowing that there was more. Jack tugged absently on his fingers as he spoke. "They worshipped Aladdin Sane as God, and… and now Aladdin Sane is dead." His voice turned strangely flat as he said it- it didn't feel real to him. How could Aladdin Sane have let the Diamond Dogs kill him in the end? Didn't he have more dignity than that?

"So," Jack continued, "because my father was a rock musician, and I have Aresian blood like Aladdin Sane did, my friends are calling me the Child of Bog- I mean, God. They want me to be their new leader, and- and I have to help them out."

Jack's mother ran her fingers through her long black hair, sighing. "Oh, Jack…"

"What are you 'Oh, Jack'-ing me for?" Jack protested indignantly. "It's all true, what I just told you. Do you think it's not?"

"No, I believe it," Jack's mother said. "There's just so much you've been doing behind my back that I wasn't aware of…"

"It was for the better," Jack tried to convince her. "Mom, will you let me go back to Hunger City and try to rescue my friends? I want them to stay here with us."

"Jack, that's not a good idea," his mother tried to plead. "You said it yourself that we don't have enough food to last a week. How are we going to feed more than two mouths?"

Jack shrugged. "They might have food with them, or I could go shop-crast- I mean, stealing. Please, Mom, just let them stay here. It's the least I can do for them after everything they did for me last night."

She passed a hand along her face, closing her eyes and finally giving in. "Okay. You can go find your friends and bring them back here. But there's one condition…"

_Oh Bog, please don't let it be anything bad… _Jack squinted. "Yes?"

"I'm coming with you," his mother said. She marched over to the door and knelt down to put on her shoes. Jack was shocked. His mother was going back into civilization after condemning everything to do with it a few years before? Jack pinched himself to know if he was dreaming or not, but the pain didn't wake him up. In fact, it was only made worse as Jack had accidentally dug his nails into a scratch on his arm that he had received the night before, one that was scarring over now. His eyes watered.

Seeing that her son wasn't being as productive as usual, Jack's mother paused in tying her lace to look him piercingly in the eye. "Well, Jack? You said you wanted to find your friends. I'm here to help you."

"Sure," Jack mumbled, getting up. "Let me get my shoes…" How odd it would be to wear normal shoes again, instead of roller skates. He retrieved them and as he was slipping them on, his mother spoke.

"No matter what happens, I am not letting you out of my sight again. Ever. You understand?"

"Yes, Mom," Jack muttered, tying his shoes. "Let's go."

The sun scalded Jack's skin as he walked down the familiar asphalt road with, bizarrely enough, his mother by his side, blinking in the brightness. Jack sighed quietly to himself, making sure that his mother didn't hear him. Of all things in his knapsack to barter, the sunscreen _had _to have been the least important one…

As they approached Poacher's Hill, Jack felt a smile come to his face when he realized that there was more than one person on top of the hill. The figures rose to their feet when they caught sight of Jack- Jagger bounding to his feet, instantly recognizable by his fur coat, and Sledge came sidling up next to him, his slouching demeanor identifying him. The last two figures were undeniably Widdy and Dice, as they were shorter and lankier than the other two and were holding hands. Though Jack was overjoyed to see that all of his friends had gotten out of the fight all right, he was also disheartened by the lack of Kylie. Where in the world _was _she?

"Oh, Mom?" Jack murmured, suddenly remembering a feature of the false Diamond Dogs that he himself had gotten used to, but that his mother would find strange. "There's one more thing you have to know about my friends. They speak a language called nadsat-talk that all of the teenagers use."

"Including you?" his mother said.

"Yes, including me," Jack confirmed. "It might be hard for you to understand them, but I'll translate if you have to."

"Brother Hallowe'en Jack!" the false Diamond Dogs called in unison. Jack pasted a smile on his face and waved, and they raised their hands together and waved back in unison. After Jack had reached the top of the hill, the Diamond Dogs descended on him, heaping him with hugs and cheers of "Thank Bog you made it!"

"It's great to know that you all are still like alive, oh my brothers," Jack said happily, stepping away from the Diamond Dogs. He gestured to his mother, who was standing off by the side with a hesitant look on her face. "This is my em."

"Oh, em of the Child of Bog!" Jagger cried. He waltzed up to Jack's mother and, before she could protest, lifted her hand to his lips. "Fair soomka, it is like a great honor and pleasure to meet you at last! I am Jagger, and these are my droogs- Sledge, Day-viddy-widdy, and No Dice Bryce." He pointed to each of the boys with a terrific smile. "We are here to protect you with our jeeznies, oh-" A frown stole over Jagger's face as he tried to work out what to call Jack's mother. "Em of the Child of Bog!" But the title wasn't satisfying. Jack's mother recoiled from the boys a bit.

"Uh… it's very nice to meet you, too," she offered, and every boy broke out into a smile. Jagger started to speak- "Hallowe'en Jack," he said, and the rest of the boys repeated him- but Jack cut into the statement.

"Have you all slooshied the news that the great Aladdin Sane-"

"Aladdin Sane," the boys echoed despondently.

"-was oobivatted?"

"We have indeed slooshied such slovos, oh my brother and Child of Bog," Sledge admitted sadly. "His having snuffed it can only mean one veshch now."

Jack was wary of asking, but he had to. "What, brother Sledge?"

"You are our Bog now," Widdy said softly, he and Dice staring up into Jack's face with an emotion that could only be described as reverence and devotion, much to Jack's disgust. He tried to protest. "I can't-"

"Child of Bog, do not try to deny it," Jagger said with conviction. "You are an Aresian like the great and powerful Bog was, and your pee was one of Bog's Holy Angels. You must be our Bog now." They assembled in a circle around Jack, and chagrin bit into him.

"You must lead us from now on," Jagger finished, his gray eyes showing the first spark of life that they had all morning. "You and your choodessny em." He gestured to Jack's mother, who hung even farther back from the group with a warning look in her eyes. _Jack, _she seemed to be saying silently with her face. _These boys are your _friends?

Jack tried to shake his head against them, but with every shake there were four more expectant nods from his friends, the false Diamond Dogs. Finally Jack threw up his hands. "Never mind. There's no time to argue about this right now, oh my brothers. My em and I will privodeet you to my domy, as we cannot go back into the city. How much pishcha do you have, my droogs?"

"You're taking us to your domy?" Dice squeaked, while Sledge answered Jack's question with, "Not much at all, Child of Bog! Just some lomticks of kleb that Jagger brought with him is all- no jammiwam or maslo to go with it, even!"

It took a while for Jack to understand what Sledge had said, but he nodded when he did. "I guess that has to be enough. Come with me, oh my brothers." Jack motioned the group forward, and they all followed him eagerly.

"The Manhattan Chase building is big enough to fit a hundred people," Jack's mother said to her newfound guests, an awkward edge to her voice. "You should all be comfortable there."

"Thank you, Em of the Child of Bog," Jagger said, and Dice suddenly snorted, having noticed Jack's feet. "Where have your skates gone to, oh my brother?"

Before Jack could answer, a new voice rang out from behind him. "Jack? Haushinka?" Jack, his mother, and the false Diamond Dogs turned around as one, and Jack stared with a mixture of surprise and relief. On the other side of the hill that they had just been standing on, Xyloto was walking towards them, his black, bushy eyebrows arching upward and a suitcase in his hand.

"Xyloto!" Jack cried, and ran forward.

"Xyloto," his mother hissed from behind him.

Xyloto and Jack met in the middle of the hill, and Xyloto sized Jack up and down. "Thank God you're alive!" he said, laying his hands on Jack's shoulders. "We were so worried about you after you and Kylie went back to fight the dogs…"

"Where is-" Jack tried to ask, but his question was drowned out by another. "Who is this chelloveck?" Jagger asked from behind Jack, crossing his arms, his voice rich with disdain.

Jack turned to explain. "This is Kylie's pee, oh my brother. He used to know both of my parents."

Xyloto tipped an imaginary hat. "How do you do, boys…" His eyes roamed over the group, to fall on Jack's mother, who looked as if she was about to cry, or start running away as fast as she could in the opposite direction. "Haushinka…"

"Don't you dare hurt my baby boy!" Jack's mother cried. "I won't let you take him this time!"

"Haushinka, I'm not-" Xyloto tried to tell her, stepping forward with his hands in the air, but she bared her teeth at him angrily. The false Diamond Dogs appeared to take that as a command, and they slid in front of her, withdrawing their Bowie knives and glaring at Xyloto.

Xyloto sighed and turned to Jack. "Jack, can you call off your friends?"

"We will not let this veck vred the Em of the Child of Bog!" Jagger shouted hostilely. "We wll oobivat you if your nogas like move another step!"

"It's all right, oh my brothers," Jack said wearily. "My em is overreacting. Xyloto is dobby."

"What a strange language," Xyloto mumbled, as if in a trance. "It sounds… Russian, almost…"

"Jack, you don't know what you're saying!" Jack's mother cried. "This man is the one who tried to steal you away from me when you were just a baby!"

"No, Mom," Jack sighed, irked by her childlike behavior. "You don't understand- just listen to me!" he cried, as she made a movement indicating escape. "Xyloto told me about what he did back then. He wasn't trying to take me away from you! He just wanted you to come with him so that you would survive Earth's destruction. Right, Xyloto?" he finished, looking to the man for help.

"Hm?... oh right, you're exactly right, Jack," Xyloto muttered, seemingly distracted. "Haushinka, I'm sorry if I ever appeared to have threatened you. I didn't mean it in the way you took it. I understand if you didn't trust me then, but for the love of God, you have to trust me now. The dogs have taken complete control of Hunger City, and the only way to fight them is if we stick together."

"Wait," said Jack, suddenly suspicious himself. "How did you manage to survive _and _get to this hill without being attacked or killed? How did you even know this was the planned meeting place?"

Xyloto gave a humorless chuckle. "You sound just like me at your age," he said. "First of all, Kylie has been talking about meeting you here every morning, so I would have gone here anyway. As it is, I _didn't _know that this was the planned meeting place for you and your… friends." He gave the false Diamond Dogs a sweep-over with his eyes distastefully. "The tunnel system- well, actually, you have to see it for yourself. I came up here this morning to retrieve some items from our house, only to find that the place was surrounded by dogs. I still managed to get some supplies though." He held his suitcase up triumphantly. "Take my word for it, Jack- there is a hiding place, and I can show it to you, your mom, and your friends if you'll only trust me for a few moments." He gazed willfully at Jack, his eyes begging Jack to accept everything he had said. Jack folded his arms across his chest.

"Xyloto," he said. "I'll gladly go to your hiding place with you if you can tell me two things. Just two, it's not hard."

"Anything you ask," Xyloto breathed.

"First, are you certain that your hiding place is safe?" Jack asked. "As in, safer than my home over there?" He hooked a finger in the direction of the Manhattan Chase building, and Xyloto responded with a quick nod. "It's a far safer place than you could ever believe. What was your next question?"

Jack took a deep breath and a step forward, leaning into Xyloto's face as he spoke. "Is… everyone okay?" He meant for the question to come out clearer, but couldn't bring himself to ask exactly what he wanted to ask. _Is she okay…_

Xyloto understood immediately what Jack meant, but he didn't give an answer right away. Jack sucked in a breath, praying to the departed Bog that there was no bad news.

"Mylo and Eva are alive and well," Xyloto said at last, and Jack felt his heart begin to sink. He moved in closer to Xyloto, jabbing his finger into his chest. "Xyloto. What about… her? What about sodding _Kylie?!"_

Xyloto inched away from Jack's accusing hand, shaking his head in regret. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anything about that. The last I saw of Kylie was when she went running back out to fight the dogs… Nearly gave me a heart attack." He clasped his hands together, tension running across his face, and Jack instantly felt bad for his harshness. It couldn't be easy not knowing where one's child was, if she was even alive or dead. Then the _alive or dead _thought caught up to Jack, and the breath was knocked out of him. His stomach plummeted to the bottom of his feet. What if… what if Kylie was…

"So what should we do now?" Jack's mother called, startling Jack out of his nightmare. The false Diamond Dogs added their wonderment, all eyes glued to Jack. Jack sighed, trying to dispel his stress. Kylie was alive. She had to be alive. Jack couldn't take it if both she and Aladdin Sane were… killed in the same night…

Why was it his decision to decide what to do? Jack turned to Xyloto, scratching behind his ear and sighing softly. "I say we follow Xyloto to his hiding place. Are you with me, oh my brothers?"

"Of course-" Jagger began.

"Hallowe'en Jack," the group finished.

Jagger dipped his head. "We will follow you to the ends of this planet and back."

"Mom?" Jack's mother was still standing behind the wall of boys, though they had lowered their defenses, her teeth clenched together and her nails digging into her palms. She stared with wild eyes at Jack before finally giving a curt nod. "I told you I would never let you out of my sight again," she hissed. "So be it. For the love of God, so be it."

"Then it's settled," Xyloto said calmly. "Come with me, everyone. You might want to have your knives out- this could get messy." He began to walk quickly down the hill, and the boys came along after him, Jack's mother bringing up the rear. On their way down the hill, Jagger gave Jack a nudge.

"Child of Bog, you have just like lead us," he said. "You made a decision for our shaika all on your malenky oddy knocky, with no like help from me or the rest of your brothers."

Jack went cold. "I did?"

"Yes," Jagger said, a soft smile playing about his lips. "You did, Child of Bog. You are a like natural leader."

Jack said nothing, running his fingers through his hair so violently that he nearly tore a few strands out.

"Do you know what you're looking at right now?" Xyloto asked his motley ensemble, scuffing a circle of metal on the ground with his feet. To Jack, it looked a lot like a lid of some sort. The boys all shook their heads, but Jack's mother spoke up. "It's a manhole cover, Xyloto. What's the big deal?"

"It's not just any old manhole cover," Xyloto explained. "Look." He knelt down and lifted the cover up, and the boys crowded around to peer down the dark, dank hole. All that was visible in the grainy half-light was a ladder that snaked its way to the unseen ground below.

"Whoa," Dice breathed in shock. "There- there's a ladder under the street!"

"Shut your rot," Sledge grumbled. They backed away and looked up at Xyloto together.

"Care to explain what's down there?" Jack's mother said.

"Later," Xyloto said, checking behind him and beside him with nervous jerks of the head. "The dogs might be coming back here anytime now. Just because the streets are currently quiet doesn't mean that they're all gone."

"They're probably zasnooting," Jack said. "I mean, sleeping. Digesting all the lewdies- I mean, people- that they ate last night."

"Way to bum us the sod out, Child of Bog," Widdy said.

Xyloto held up his hand for silence. "Look, I know this doesn't seem like the best option for escape, but once again, you have to trust me. Come with me, I'll go first." He slid down the manhole and stepped onto the ladder, ducking down to descend it. The boys looked at each other with interested expressions. "Who's gonna go first?" Sledge asked.

"I will," Jagger announced with a flourish, stepping down the hole and onto the ladder. "I am not poogly of anything, oh my brothers!" He soon disappeared from sight, and with a silent shrug, Sledge descended the ladder. "I believe that Jagger is not telling the truth, oh my brothers," he murmured confidentially under his breath to Jack, Widdy, and Dice. "He was _quite _spoogy of the Diamond Dogs last nochy." Then he too disappeared, and after he was gone Jack was about to volunteer to go down, when a voice blasted him in his head.

_We are watching you, Aresian!_

Jack whipped his head up and drew his knife, whirling about to locate the hidden Diamond Dogs. "Widdy!" he hissed. "Dice! You need to get underground now, my brothers! The Diamond Dogs are here!"

"The dogs?" Widdy and Dice stated as one, and then the sound of growling filled the air. Jack shoved against Widdy's back, though not too hard. "Yes, the dogs! They're here! OUT OUT OUT!"

Stunned, Widdy shoved himself down the hole. "I don't think you pony what 'out out out' means, Child of Bog! It means-" He disappeared, and Dice took up the speech for him, balancing on the ladder. "It means to run away very skorrily, not to crawl down a hole!"

"Well, you _have_ to crawl down the sodding hole!" Jack snapped. "OUT OUT SODDING OUT!" A second later his mother let out a bloodcurdling scream that caused the hairs on the back of Jack's neck to stand straight up, and with wide eyes, Dice disappeared down the ladder. Jack turned on his heel to find one of the Diamond Dogs clamping their jaws around his mother's shoulder. Flash- Aladdin Sane's soft, ragged voice came back to Jack as clear as day. _The Diamond Dogs must have been named for their teeth- those fangs are so sharp they could cut open anything, as unbreakable as diamonds. _And his mother, of course, had no Aresian blood in her, and wouldn't heal as Jack would. All of Jack's wits were driven out of him, and he charged forward with a cry. "_Let GO of her, you sodding animal! Let GO!"_

The Diamond Dogs launched themselves forward as Jack came up to meet them, and as his mother moaned in pain, one dog latched itself onto his leg and tugged him to the ground, right beside the manhole. Jack planted his shoe into its chest, but he wasn't strong enough to drive the animal away. Another dog loped up as Jack managed to tear his pants leg free, ripping a patch of denim off in the first dog's mouth. The second Diamond Dog lunged onto Jack's chest and pinned him down under its sheer weight. Claws shot out of its paws, to Jack's horror. He hadn't known the Diamond Dogs had retractable claws… whatever next? Then the dog angled its head, and though Jack flailed with his Bowie knife, blindly lashing out and trying to jerk away, its teeth still managed to close around his throat. Jack screamed, strangled, and ripped his head out of the Diamond Dog's jaws, rolling and somehow managing to throw it off. "MOM!" The scream turned into a gurgle as Jack began to cough up blood, crawling closer to the manhole. He had to get out… but he couldn't leave without his mother… Then his body dropped and he found himself falling, falling, falling through blackness, until the cement embraced him with a gentle _thud _and he knew nothing more for a long while.

"Looks like he's waking up."

A moan escaped his lips, and somewhere inside he was surprised at the force of it. He wondered if he could repeat the sound, and tried out of interest, but nothing formed in his throat.

"Can you hear me?" The voice sounded awfully familiar. He stirred and blinked his fuzzy eyes open to find that things were no better than when he had had them closed. The darkness still surrounded him, although it was alleviated a bit with orangey light that brought extensive shadows out to play. Slowly his vision adjusted, and he stared into the eyes of the person kneeling over him.

"Jack." The person was clearly relieved to see Jack awake, but Jack was not content. This person's voice belonged to a man. Even before he could clearly see the man's face, he felt his raised spirits lower. It wasn't her. Where the hell was Kylie…

"Wha- wha', wha' happened?" Jack mumbled, and as he did so his twitching fingers rose to meet the skin of his throat. He pressed down, feeling sticky blood retreating from beneath his touch, and the jagged flaps of skin that were sewing themselves up. Pain radiated out from his wound when he tried to speak, and his sides hurt when he tried to take a breath.

"Lie still," Xyloto said. "You're going to be fine." It was then that Jack noticed the cool touch of a person's hand resting on his forehead. Lifting his eyes a little more, he caught a shadowy sight of a Mercurian bent over him. Every cell in Jack's body was instantly alert, screaming at the unfamiliar sight, but he forced himself to stay calm, lest he offend the Mercurian.

"The Diamond Dogs got you in the throat," a new voice said from somewhere in the shadows beside Jack. Turning his head the slightest bit, Jack could see Mylo sitting beside him, and suddenly felt her warm pressure in his hand. Beyond Mylo was Eva, aiming her unsettling stare at him.

"Good thing you have Martian- I mean, Aresian, blood in you, or you would have died," Mylo said. "You also fell down the manhole- might have bruised your ribs there."

"I've never seen anything like it," Xyloto murmured, examining Jack's wound with straining eyes. "Ziggy never got the chance to show us his healing power, and even when Floyd had the opportunity he never got a chance to do it…"

"My- healing pow'r isn't asstrong asa normal Aresian," Jack slurred. "A Lad- A Lad Insane told me…"

He blinked, searching the room with his eyes. "Where am-" Then a more demanding question answered his brain, and Jack sat bolt upright, scaring the Mercurian away from him. "Where's Mom?!"

Mylo reached for Jack and laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's all right, Jack. Your mother is alive and well." Jack let his breath leave his lungs in one big _whoosh. _His mother was alive- that was all that mattered. Of course, it would have been just as relieving to hear about Kylie's current state…

"The Diamond Dogs got her in the shoulder. She's pretty badly wounded," Xyloto said. "But she'll heal. A strong woman, that one." He chuckled once, and Mylo mock-glared at him. "Your mother couldn't have cared less about her wound. All she wanted was to know that you were safe and alive. She's with the Mercurians now. They're treating her wound, but she'll be over shortly, we think."

"Where am I?" Jack asked at last, making an effort to sit up properly. His throat was all that had been hurt- there was no reason to act like an invalid. Besides that, the bruised ribcage, and the torn skin on his leg, Jack had gotten out of the scrape lucky once again. How did these things keep happening?

A smile danced across Xyloto's face. "We are in Mercury City at the moment. Located directly below Hunger City."

Looking around, Jack saw a few misshapen bodies of Mercurians, and several lit candles. The room he was in didn't appear to be heavily furnished, except for a few bedrolls here and there and a dim, square doorway. He wondered what exact kind of building he was in.

"Mercury City?"

"Yes," Mylo said. "The Mercurians built it belowground after the humans came to colonize this planet. It's still somewhat of a work in progress, though, which is why a lot of Mercurians lingered aboveground in Hunger City to eventually drink themselves to death. They left behind manholes and trap doors all over the place as entryways to their underground city."

"And we've known about them ever since we came here because there's a trapdoor ever so conveniently located in our bedroom at home," Xyloto said dryly. He wagged his head in disbelief. "Who knew we'd ever need it for an escape! I tell you, Mylo, there's a reason I'm writing a book on all this. A story this contrived would become an instant bestseller."

"If there were publishing companies on this planet, any story could become a bestseller," Mylo retorted.

Jack sat in silence, listening to Mylo and Xyloto bicker in a friendly way with each other, and felt a sudden tug at his heartstrings. They were such a good couple together, and it made him both miss Kylie (wherever she was) and long for someone to fill the hole in his life that he hadn't been completely aware was there until the day before. _Why did he have to die? _Jack wondered. _Why did it have to be a one-night-stand…_

Then a new thought popped into his mind, and he called out. "Xyloto?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know what happened to my dad's album?" Jack asked, knotting his fingers together. "_The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. _The record. Do you have it with you?"

"Uh- no, I'm sorry," said Xyloto. "It wasn't our first priority when we were leaving the house, and now that the place is overrun with Diamond Dogs, we can't exactly go back…"

At that moment, a darkly lit figure came crouching through the doorway, moving snakelike away from the Mercurians scattered across the room and making a beeline for Jack. "Oh, Jack!" his mother called out, shuffling her way across the floor to stand over him. She pressed her cool fingers to his forehead, and Jack both shied away from and delighted in the touch.

"Jack, I thought you were going to- when I saw you down here, unconscious, it looked like you were- it looked for sure like the dogs would-" She embraced him tightly. "Oh, I'm just so glad you're _alive!"_

"Same here," Jack breathed, the air rushing out of his lungs with the force of his mother's one armed hug. "Oof! Uh, Mom… you're hurting me…"

She let go of him instantly. "What? Where does it hurt?"

"My ribs," Jack groaned, rubbing his sides. "It's okay… I think they're just bruised." He blinked in the murky light at his mother, noticing for the first time the bandage on her left shoulder. "Are you okay?"

His mother loosely fingered her bandage, as if she had forgotten it was there. "Oh. Yes, I'm fine. I'm okay." She sat down next to Jack and laid her hand on his shoulder. "It matters more to me that you're all right."

"Are you finding Mercury City to be at your liking, Haushinka?" Xyloto asked. Jack's mother glared coldly at him. "It's all right. I prefer the Manhattan Chase building."

"The what?" Xyloto said, and Jack's mother let out a combination of a snort and a sigh. Jack slowly inched away from her arm and stood up, brushing himself off.

"The Manhattan Chase building," his mother responded to Xyloto in a steely tone, her gaze level with his and her eye flaring. "It's where I live with my son. _By myself."_

"I think I'll go now," Jack mumbled, making for the door. No one seemed to hear him, but as he passed Eva's watchful eyes, she stood up and followed behind him through the door. Once outside, Jack couldn't stop himself from gasping.

Mercury City was filled with one-story, square houses with holes cut into them that looked a lot like boxes to Jack. Yellow streetlamps burned on every corner, not using electricity, but candles. The ground was smooth and paved, and on the streets was the familiar sight of none other than teenagers on roller skates. Jack caught sight of a familiar face and ran up to join his friends.

"Jagger? Sledge?" They skated past him, grinning goofily. "Widdy? Dice?"

"Child of Bog!" Jagger yelped. "You are alive!" He broke free of the pack and skated to Jack, giving him a friendly bump on the shoulder with his fist.

"But you still have no skates!" Widdy complained. "You need to join in the ultraviolence, oh my brother!"

"The great and powerful Aladdin-" Jack began, and then waited for the boys to catch up with his train of thought. "Aladdin Sane!"

"- never wore roller skates," Jack finished. "If I am truly Bog now, I do not like need them." He felt uneasy about admitting to his friends that he was Bog, because he hadn't truly accepted the role yet. Aladdin Sane's shoes were too big for Jack to fill. But Jagger had told him he was a natural leader…

The boys nodded with the sensibility of this statement, though Jagger didn't seem to relish it. "Even though you are Bog, oh my brother," he said, "you still need to move skorrily when the vonny, grahzny Diamond Dogs attack us." He slowed to a stop and persuaded the rest of the group to follow suit. Soon a large line of teenagers had formed, both male and female (though the boys outnumbered the girls), and all of them staring deferentially up at Jack.

"These are our droogs now, my brother the Child of Bog," Jagger said, sweeping his hand across the line. "These are all the nadsats that lived in Hunger City who have like survived the siege of the Diamond Dogs. Once upon a time, they too were called Diamond Dogs. But now we will not like accept that eemya. We look to you, Child of Bog, brother of ours, and great-"

"Hallowe'en Jack," the mob said as one.

"- to lead us now, to choose a new eemya for us. We are forever under your power." Jagger knelt down to the ground, and together the rest of the teenagers sunk down too. They made the sign that Jack had seen them make before, the one that resembled the sign of the cross and that had been made at Aladdin Sane's concert. He was horribly fascinated, and astonished.

"Brothers!" Jack cried. "Get up on your nogas! You do not have to like kneel for me because I am Bog. Would Aladdin Sane-"

"Aladdin Sane," his worshippers echoed.

"-have wanted this? Please stand up."

Slowly and reluctantly, the teenagers got to their feet. Jack surveyed their faces, impressed by how many of them had managed to survive the dog attack, even if it was only a handful. How many teenagers had been in the city to begin with? Thinking back on the Diamond Dogs' attack, Jack remembered how so many of the teenagers had thrown themselves in front of him to protect the "Child of Bog," and his heart burned. Had he inadvertently caused any deaths? All of these teenagers had been so loyal to him…

"Brothers, and sisters," Jack said, and the group of teenagers hushed up. Jack wanted to groan when he realized why- he was making a speech. But there was nothing to do but continue with it.

"I want to thank you all for protecting me during the Diamond Dogs' attack. Appy polly loggies for not being able to protect you."

"We forgive you, Child of Bog!" one of the boys shouted. Assenting voices were soon added to his declaration. "It was not your like fault that some of us snuffed it! Don't feel baddiwad!"

"I have thought of a new eemya for us," Jack said. He had been kicking the idea around in his brain ever since Aladdin Sane had first told him what the true Diamond Dogs were called. "From this moment on, you will no longer be Diamond Dogs. From now on, you will be called the Nadsats."

There was at first a general mumbling of "that's the best he could come up with?" and "why didn't we think of that?" before Widdy spoke up. "I like it, Child of Bog!"

Soon everyone was agreeing. "All hail the Nadsats! All hail the Child of Bog!"

"And," said Jack, feeling that leaving the group with a new name wasn't enough, "I will be glad to lead you in combat between the terrible Diamond Dogs! We will oobivat each one of them, once and for all!"

This was met with a huge cheer, and the Nadsats rushed forward to praise Jack and touch him in wonderment. Jack finally broke free of the throng after a few minutes and waved goodbye, then walked off by himself to explore his new surroundings.

Shortly, Jack became aware of the sound of feet pattering along after him. He slowed down warily; none of the Nadsats could be following him, because he would hear squeaking skate wheels rather than footsteps. He turned around to find that Eva was coming after him, determination glowing in her brown eyes.

"Can you stop doing that?" Jack asked, stopping in his walk to let her come to his side.

"Doing what?" she asked, smoothing her skirt and biting her lip.

"Oh, it's nothing," Jack sighed. "You're just staring at me a lot, and… it's getting uncomfortable. I'm sorry."

"Oh." Eva looked down at her feet, a red blush slowing approaching her skin. "That- that scene back there… that was very impressive."

"Thanks," Jack mumbled. "You don't think they're going to hate me for it later, do you?"

Eva blinked. "Hate you? Why?"

"Well, in nadsat-talk, the word 'nadsat' means 'teenager…'" Jack rolled his eyes. "I'm horrible at thinking up names, okay?"

"Well, you've never had to do it before," Eva pointed out. She took a few steps forward. "Come walk with me, Jack. I've been wanting to talk to you since yesterday."

Interested, Jack followed Eva, trying to keep up with her long strides. She stared right ahead, her back ramrod straight, seeming to know exactly where she was going, although Jack hadn't gotten the feeling that she had been to Mercury City before. Mercurians huddled and slouched in dark corners beside the squat buildings, and as Jack looked at their inhuman features, trying to accustom himself to them, Eva began to speak in her oddly-accented voice.

"I don't know if you've figured this out already, but Mylo and Xyloto are not my parents, and Kylie's not my blood sister."

"I did figure it out," Jack said. "Kylie told me how old you are."

Eva nodded. "I don't like people to talk about it, or to talk about it myself, really. It's just important that you know who I am."

"Who were your real parents?" Jack asked, having the sneaking suspicion that he would recognize one or more of the names.

Eva ran her fingers through her long, tangled hair. "My father was Pink Floyd, or Floyd Pinkerton, the rock star that Xyloto was talking about who told him about you and your mother. I was seven years old when he died."

"I'm sorry," Jack said. "I… I know how you feel." He wanted to touch Eva to comfort her, but she seemed hardened and closed up, and her hands were clasped tightly together in front of her.

"No, you don't," Eva said. "At least you weren't born yet when Ziggy died. At least he didn't deliberately take himself away from you…" She breathed deeply, trying to keep her voice steady. "My parents dragged me along on some trip to America- that was a country on Earth, we used to live in England-"

"I've heard of it," Jack interjected, wondering now if that was where Eva's accent came from.

"-under the pretense that we were visiting some of my dad's old friends," Eva continued. "The next thing I knew, he had dumped me off with Mylo and Xyloto to go into outer space with my mum. They were trying to bury Ziggy's body, or so Mylo and Xyloto told me… They were headed to Mars. I mean, Ares." She fiddled with her fingers and bit her lip even harder, so that blood began to flow out of it. Jack was alarmed. "Are you all right?" He reached in to take Eva's hand, but she moved them violently away from Jack.

"No," she spat. "No, I'm not all right! What do you expect me to be? When my parents came back to Earth, they told me they were going to kill themselves! Right after I had spent two years wishing they would come back… Who would tell a little girl that?" Eva's voice choked off, and she hastily brushed away the tears that were forming in her eyes. "They went away that morning, and I never saw them again." She stopped walking suddenly and hung her head, pressing her hands to her face and shaking with a suppressed sob. Jack, unable to control himself, reached out and laid a hand on Eva's shoulder, but she shook him off violently and turned away from him. "_Don't touch me! _I- I c-can't have you t-touch me." She hid her face in her hands as Jack, at a loss, stood by her awkwardly, trying to think of soothing things to say but only about to come up with the eternal, "I'm sorry."

Finally Eva turned back to Jack, her eyes red and swollen. She wiped her damp face and sniffed as she spoke. "I'm sorry, Jack. I get emotional when I talk or even think about them." She gave him a cracked smile. "I didn't mean to tell you all that."

"It's fine," Jack said, and then, aware that he might be treading dangerous waters to set Eva off again, but still wanting to know himself, he asked, "Did your parents know my father? You said that they went all the way to Ares to bury him."

"Yes," Eva said. "I knew him too. Ziggy was actually the first man I ever loved." She laughed. "Imagine that- me at five years old with a crush on a guy in his millions!"

_In his millions? _Of course Jack had known that Aresians could live for a very long time, but the thought that his father had been at least one millions years old when he had sex with his twenty-year-old at the time mother gave him the creeps. But then again, Aladdin Sane had lived for about the same amount of time, and he had appeared to be no older than his thirties when Jack had met him.

"How did you meet my father?" Jack asked. Eva answered, "My family was the first to meet him when he came to Earth, actually." She began walking again, and Jack picked up the pace. "He landed in our backyard. Well, really my parents' backyard."

Jack raised his eyebrows- there was an addition to the story that Xyloto had forgotten to tell him about. Another question popped into his brain. "Do I remind you of him?"

Eva turned her head and looked down her nose at Jack, and even in the bad lighting Jack was startled by the force and intensity of her eyes. Dark and brown, they seemed almost to belong to another person, not quite matching up with her quiet demeanor. They stared viscerally into Jack, mentally tearing him apart.

"Yes," Eva murmured, her soft-spoken voice contrasting the power of her eyes. "Yes, you do remind me of him a bit. You've got the ears right down pat, and the eyes…" She peered deeper into Jack's, unnerving him with her stare even more. "Goodness, but Ziggy had such lovely eyes! Dark blue on one side, light blue on the other."

"Actually," Jack said, "one of his pupils was permanently dilated, and the other one wasn't."

"Oh." Eva pulled away from Jack. "Well, there goes my vision, then. Good thing I haven't gotten a chance to paint it yet." She giggled. "Mylo and Xyloto have no good photos of Ziggy, and of course I'm not eidetic like you Aresians… it means having a flawless memory," she clarified, seeing Jack's blank expression.

"I'm not eidetic," Jack said. "I can remember things pretty well, but only when I need to."

"Ah, well supposedly Aresians can remember everything that's happened in their life after their birth," Eva said. "I wish I could remember Ziggy better…" She blinked in Jack's face, and then reached out to stroke his cheek. Jack shuddered involuntarily.

"You have his nose," Eva said. "As far as I know, anyway. The cheekbones aren't exactly right, though…"

Jack pulled away. "I thought you said Mylo and Xyloto don't have any good photos of my father."

"Oh, they have good photos, but not for what I want to do with them," Eva said. "I want to paint a portrait just as I've done for all the other members of my family, but none of their photos are suitable for the kind of portrait I want to do. I want to show Ziggy candidly as he was, not posed for some publicity shot or…" She sucked in a breath and looked away, not finishing her sentence.

"I have a photo," Jack began, and started to reach for the knapsack on his back- before realizing that there was no knapsack on his back. He must have left it in the building that he had awoken in. "Never mind for now. Maybe I could model for you- if I look enough like my father, you could just fill in the blanks from your memory."

Eva shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. When I paint a person's face, I have to paint the person that I'm looking at, not someone else, no matter how similar they look. Even if they were identical twins, I'd still notice at least one difference in their expression. My mother has always taught me that every person is different, and when I paint, I can't help but present their uniqueness." She smiled, and Jack was surprised to find how becoming she looked. "Of course, you're welcome to come and sit for your own portrait any time you want. I suppose you're a part of the family now that Kylie is dating you."

"We're not dating," Jack said.

"Oh? Then why did you have sex with her?" Eva countered.

Jack shrugged hopelessly. "It was spur of the moment. Can we not talk about Kylie right now?" Bringing up Kylie had brought up the memories of the last time Jack had seen her, fighting with all her might against the pack of Diamond Dogs that could very well destroy her…

Eva nodded, understanding, and a flash of pain came to her eyes. She changed the subject and turned around to walk the other way with Jack. "There's something I have for you back at the house. Not our house, I mean, but the house that you were treated in a few moments ago." She cocked her head sideways and ran her hands over her skirt again.

"Do you mean a present?" Jack asked.

Eva inclined her head. "I suppose so. When we were fleeing the Diamond Dogs, I grabbed _The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars _off of Mylo and Xyloto's bed. I couldn't bear to leave without it, and I thought you might want it too."

"You thought right," Jack murmured, and a smile came to his face. "Thank you very much, Eva."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling back, and then her eyes grew tight around the edges. "I've been listening to that album for so many years now, ever since I was five. I _love _Ziggy's music, but remembering who he was and what he did upsets me. I mean, he was so bloody beautiful, and brilliant as well… He didn't deserve to die. He could have saved the entire planet Earth with his music, were it not for those three sick bastards of bandmates that he had…" Her hands balled into fists, and her eyes turned murderous. "Your father was loved by so many people, Jack. Including me. I- I wish he could have survived just long enough to meet you… maybe make another album…" She patted Jack's shoulder. "It must be hard for you to have grown up without him."

"Not really," Jack said, and his heart sang with pain. "I've only just started missing him, but how can you miss someone you never knew?" Eva had no response. She and Jack walked along, silently comforting each other for the respective losses of their fathers (and in Eva's case, her mother). Then Eva spoke up again.

"It's incredibly odd to be here with someone who is so closely connected with the man I loved." She looked down at Jack. "Now that I'm older, I've begun to seriously fall in love with Ziggy, or with his memory, anyway. And to have his son here… It's a bit spooky." She laughed softly, chastising. "I'm sorry if that sounded weird. Actually, I'm also sorry for staring at you so much yesterday… I just couldn't believe you existed."

"It's okay," Jack said. He couldn't understand the falling in love with his father part, but the staring part made sense to him. "It's nice to hear from someone else who knew my dad when he was alive."

"Not that I can really tell you much," Eva sighed. "I've got only the fuzziest memories of him in my head. If my dad were still alive, I know he could tell you the most about Ziggy that any of us can. He was very close to Ziggy back then, or so Mylo and Xyloto have said. They even lived in America together for a short while."

She sighed and kicked at the concrete ground. "He never told me he was a musician, did you know that, Jack? My father kept it a secret up until the very last minute. I know Kylie likes his music, and it's been played often in our house, but I've never listened. I've heard it about a thousand times, but I've never listened. I- I just can't think about him, or my mother, without…"

Eva sucked in a deep breath and fell silent. Then she prodded Jack in the side. "What's your favorite song of Ziggy's, Jack?"

"Um…" Jack racked his brains for the song titles. "I liked 'Starman' the best, I think. And 'Memory of A Free Festival.' That was pretty horrorshow." He smiled apologetically for his use of nadsat-talk, and Eva burst out laughing.

"Horrorshow! That's a wonderful word. Kylie's been using it all over the place." Then, with the unpleasant thought of Kylie looming in her mind, Eva said quickly, "Those songs are actually my two favorites of Ziggy's. They're rather hard to listen to now, though."

The talk lapsed as Eva and Jack returned to the main square they had just left several minutes ago. Up ahead, Widdy, Dice, and Jagger were skating in a tight circle, while Sledge stood by smoking a cigarette. The other Nadsats appeared to have fled, and several adults were coming out of the buildings, blinking at their surroundings as if they still hadn't gotten quite used to it yet. Though the majority of humans moved lethargically, one woman froze in place as if she had been zapped with a lightning bolt, and then took off running towards Widdy, Dice, and Jagger in their skating party. "Bryce!" she shouted. "David! BRYCE!"

Widdy and Dice were startled apart and broke out of the skating circle as the woman rushed forward and grabbed Dice, pulling him into her arms. "Oh, Bryce-!" she gasped. "Where have you been all this time?!" Dice struggled to get free at first, but then the woman started crying and he held her in place, murmuring, "It's okay, Mom… It's okay!"

"Where have you been yourself, Aunt Lila?" Widdy asked, his eyes wide with shocked. "We haven't viddied- I mean, seen you in so long!"

Eva and Jack exchanged glances. "Friends of yours?" Eva said.

"Yeah- Widdy and Dice are. I mean, David and Bryce." He watched as the woman let go of Dice, and Widdy came to her side and patted her hand soothingly. Abandoned, Jagger glowered in the shadows, and went off to Sledge's side, whose cool expression remained unchanged. They walked off together.

"It's nice to know that this siege is bringing people back together," Eva said, her voice and spirits lifting the smallest bit.

"It's nice to know that this siege is tearing some of us apart," Jack muttered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. If Widdy and Dice had found their family, why couldn't Jack find Kylie?

When Jack returned to the building he had started out in, he was surprised to see his mother lying asleep on a bedroll on the left side of the room. Her breathing was coming rapidly, and a Mercurian was kneeling over her. Jack broke away from Eva and rushed to his mother's side. "What's wrong with her?"

"It's nothing major," Mylo replied. "She went hysterical and tried to attack Xyloto. We had to give her a sedative." Her voice was filled with contempt- for who, Jack's mother or Xyloto, Jack couldn't tell. He stroked his mother's hair gently, watching her eyelids flutter.

Xyloto grimaced. "You were right, Jack. Haushinka really doesn't like hearing about the past. I should have kept my big old mouth shut…"

"You handled it fine," Mylo said, but her voice was worn out. "We'll just have to deal with this."

Jack turned his head to glance at Mylo and Xyloto, and noticed that Xyloto was holding a leather-bound notebook. "What's that?"

"This?" Xyloto glanced down at his hands. "It's something that your mother, and you, absolutely needs to read. I'll wait until she wakes up to force it on her."

"Xyloto," Mylo said strappingly. "Maybe you should hold back from _forcing _her and let her decide if she wants to read it."

"What is it?" Jack asked again, but before he could get an answer to his question his mother stirred and moaned on the bedroll beside him, and Eva paused in her walk across the room, holding Jack's father's record out in front of her. Jack leaned over his mother, watching her blink groggy eyes. "Mom? Are you awake?"

"That sedative didn't hold for very long," Xyloto commented. "Must be what comes of having to make our own medicine, though the Mercurians do a great job of it."

"Jack?" Jack's mother reached out her hand to brush his knee. "What…"

"Haus-" Xyloto started to say, but Mylo shushed him. "I don't think you should talk to Haushinka right now, Xyloto. Leave it to us."

"Jack?" His mother struggled to sit up. "Did they give me a drug? Jack!"

"It's okay, Mom," Jack said, taking her hand. He looked back at Mylo and Xyloto. "Did the sedative have alcohol in it, by any chance?"

"No," Mylo said. "Why?"

"No reason," Jack muttered, remembering the way his mother had pounced on and consumed the entire bottle of wine he had brought back from Hunger City. He supposed it was for the better that the sedative wasn't alcoholic.

Jack's mother raised her hand to her head, wincing as she did so, for the hand she used belonged to the arm that the Diamond Dogs had bitten. "Fuck- oh, I'm sorry, Jack," she apologized right away.

"Don't worry about me," Jack said, rolling his eyes mockingly. "I'm aware of that word."

His mother gripped his hand tighter and turned her head to stare accusingly at Mylo and Xyloto. "What are _you _still doing here?!"

"Calm down," Mylo said softly. She plucked the notebook right out of Xyloto's hands and stood up to move over to Jack's mother. "Haushinka, there's something I think you should read right here."

Jack's mother blinked and narrowed her eyes warily. "Why should I trust you? After you used a drug to knock me out…"

"Who else are you going to trust down here?" Mylo said. "You refused to come with us then, but we need to stick together now." She knelt as Jack's mother tried to sit up and held out the notebook. "You and Jack need to read this right away. It's not exactly relevant to our situation, but it will give you a few insights about the man who fathered your child."

"What is it?" Jack's mother asked right away, while Jack said at the same time, "My father?"

Mylo clutched the book to her chest. "It's an account of Ziggy Stardust's time spent on Earth. A friend of ours- well, Floyd Pinkerton, you know him, Haushinka- gave it to us back on Earth." Jack looked over at Eva questioningly. Of course he knew now that Eva's father and his own father had known each other, but where had the notebook come from?

Mylo continued, as Jack's mother looked on skeptically, "If you want to know more about Jack's father, and about Jack as well, I would suggest you read this right away." She came over and handed the book to Jack, who in turn set it beside his mother, afraid in some way of the potential power it held. His mother stared at the notebook at if it were a dead rat.

"Mylo… Oh God." She briefly put her head in her hands. "Please tell me why this is so important. It's not like learning any more about Ziggy freaking Stardust will help us with… whatever situation we're in now." She frowned and gestured loosely with her right hand. "I've spent years trying to forget the past, as I told you. All I've wanted is to provide a good home for my son and not have to remember everything that happened on Earth all those years ago. I didn't even want to remember there was an Earth to begin with. And now… now you're asking me to go back and think about this man whom I barely had a relationship with, for sake of- what? What is it that you're hoping to gain from my reading this?"

"It's not what I'm going to gain from it," Mylo said softly. "It's what you'll gain from it. The Diamond Dogs, as we know from what Jack's told us, mainly go after those who have Aresian blood in them. Seeing as Ziggy was Aresian, and we're trying to protect the one Aresian left standing, I think it's vital that you try to learn more about them, for your son's sake. His life might be in danger if you don't find out what it is about the Aresians that the Diamond Dogs so hate." Jack knew, and he could tell by a quick sideways glance Mylo gave him that she knew that he knew, that Mylo herself didn't know why the Diamond Dogs hated Aresians, and that the answer was not in the book. She just seemed convinced that in order for Jack's mother to face her demons, she would have to read this notebook.

Jack's mother said nothing for a bit, staring hostilely at Mylo, before snatching the book and climbing to her feet. "I'll read it," she said. "But it won't be because you told me." With that childish statement, she whirled out of the building. Jack watched her go, and then looked back at Eva and Mylo. Mylo sighed and returned to Xyloto's side. "Well, I tried. Happy now?" Eva walked over to Jack as he stood up and thrust the album into Jack's hands. He cradled it as if it were made of gold, unable to keep the smile from lighting up his face.

"There you go," Eva said unceremoniously. "Now, if you'll please trade me something for it…"

Jack instantly went on guard, backing towards the wall to protect his knapsack. "What?"

"I believe you said you had a picture of Ziggy Stardust that could work for a portrait," Eva said hesitantly. Jack relaxed and slipped his knapsack off, letting it fall to the ground. "Here." He rummaged around in the pack before drawing the newspaper article about his father and giving it to Eva. She took it with a concerned expression hovering on her face, which gradually smoothed out at she stared at the photo. Her lips turned up in the faintest of smiles, and her bleak brown eyes began to glow with love before she caught sight of the headline and they dulled immediately, her smile vanishing.

"I think this will do," Eva said. "Goodness, but he was so lovely. Don't you think so, Mylo?"

"He was handsomer than I am," Jack muttered, while Mylo said carefully, "Yes, Eva. Ziggy was quite good-looking, but of course I already have Mr. I'm-Going-To-Write-A-Book-And-No-One-Can-Stop-Me over here." She playfully mussed up Xyloto's hair, though there was a hopeless look in her eye, and Xyloto swatted good-naturedly at her hands.

"What's that you have, Jack?" Mylo said, looking at the album in his hands. "_The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars? _Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, her hands flying to her temples. "That reminds me, there's something else I need to give you, Jack." Mylo went over to the corner of the room, and Jack set the album down and watched as she rifled around in her suitcase before emerging with what looked like a dark lump. Coming back towards Jack, Mylo held the lump out and showed him that it was really a leather jacket, with flaps around the neck.

"This is a bomber jacket, circa World War II era," Mylo said. "Oh, I know that won't mean anything to you, but basically this jacket is very old. It belonged to a dear friend of mine and Xyloto's." Her forehead creased in remembrance as she handed the jacket over to Jack, who slipped it on and turned up the flaps automatically. "Fits like a glove." He tried to grin to cheer Mylo up, but the jacket had reminded him of Kylie and her penchant for leather. Besides, it didn't _really _fit like a glove. The jacket had obviously been designed for someone who had more meat on his bones than Jack did.

"I'm glad you like it," Mylo said, though the sadness hadn't completely drained out of her eyes. "I thought you should have it to prevent any more nasty Diamond Dogs bites on your arms." She turned to Xyloto and sat down next to him, and Jack stood by himself in the middle of the room, wondering what to do and starting to be overcome with thoughts of Kylie. He looked around at Mylo, Xyloto, and Eva's calm faces. How were they not panicking? Why weren't they aching to get back out aboveground like he was? Where could Kylie possibly be?

_Shut your rot, Jack, _Jack's unsympathetic mind spat at him. _No need to like worry so much about this devotchka, even if she was your droog. _But that was just it- Kylie had been Jack's best friend. How could he not worry about her?"

"Jack, are you all right?" Eva asked from behind him. He snapped his head towards her to watch as she passed him. Her wide brown eyes bore into him. "You look a bit tense."

Jack grumbled something unintelligible and mindlessly paced the floor. Why wasn't anyone starting a search party for Kylie? Now that he had gotten all settled in to Mercury City, what was he expected to do?

"Jack." Xyloto looked up from the floor where Mylo was preening him. "Is anything wrong?"

Jack burst out with, "Yes, of course something's wrong! My best friend- your _daughter- _is still missing back in Hunger City, and none of us are doing anything about it? What's wrong with all of you?" He felt himself start to tremble with rage that was slowly slipping over his soul.

"That came on quickly," Xyloto muttered to himself. He stood up and looked Jack in the eye. "Jack, I'm sorry if you feel that we're not doing anything to help you or Kylie. Trust me, I know how you feel. I'm being torn apart without her too. But we simply can't do anything of importance right now. I'm sorry, but it's true. The only reason I could come aboveground this morning was that most of the Diamond Dogs were napping after their wild night. They're going to come back on the streets by tomorrow, Jack, now that there's no one to stop them, and if any of us goes out there we'll be dead."

"But Kylie is still out there," Jack recapitulated stubbornly. "You can't leave your daughter behind like that, Xyloto. You can't leave behind…" He coughed, aware that was he was going to say had the possibility of sounding very sappy. "You can't leave behind the girl I…" No, he couldn't follow through with it. Jack burned with shame and awkwardness as he faced Xyloto, the L-word prominent on his mind.

"I know how you feel," Xyloto repeated, "but there's really nothing we can do. You see those guys?" He swept his hand towards the Mercurians, who were crowded around the ladder that led down from the manhole, their faces turned expectantly upwards. "They're guarding each and every entryway to Mercury City. The dogs know we're down here, of course, but they can't lift the lids because they don't have opposable thumbs. So we're safe down here for as long as it takes for either the siege to end, or the Mercurians to initiate peace talks. They know how to communicate with the Diamond Dogs, you know. It's physically impossible for them to speak our language, but they can talk to the Diamond Dogs because they communicate telepathically."

_Where did you learn all of that from? _Jack wondered, his anger starting to ebb away. Disgusted, he clung to the anger harshly, because he knew if it slipped away he wouldn't be able to speak about Kylie anymore. "Sure, we're safe under here, but what about the people who are still up there? What if Kylie's alive aboveground and waiting for us?" Jack took a step forward, his anger mounting back to its rightful place. "What if she d- di- what if the Diamond Dogs get her because you refuse to go out and find the person who means the most to you?" He snorted loudly in contempt. "How can she really mean that much to you if you'd rather stay safe than risk your life for her, Xyloto?"

This time, it was Mylo who spoke first, and she gazed gently into Jack's eyes, pain showing in her own. "There's nothing I would love more than to go back to Hunger City and find my daughter again. Honestly, Jack, you're not the only one who's feeling this pain. But we can't allow even the slightest chance of getting killed by the Diamond Dogs. Did it occur to you that this is all that's left of the human race, Jack? The population of this city was greatly reduced after the attack last night. We need to protect and save as many people as we can."

Jack gazed into her eyes coolly before turning away. He went back to the bedroll his mother had lain on and slid his father's album into his knapsack, and then headed out towards the door. He kept a tight grip on his anger the whole way, afraid of letting it go and allowing the lump in his throat to take over. Up ahead in the distance, he could see his mother standing in the doorway of one of the square buildings, holding his father's leather-bound notebook in her hands.

_How long can we stay underground? _Jack countered Mylo in his imagination. _How long can we go before the Diamond Dogs break in, or even worse, until we run out of supplies?_

He reached the building and shrugged at his mother's careful greeting, flinging his knapsack down on a bedroll. Then Jack covered his ears and vented all of his rage in the form of a long, shrill scream. If there had been glass in the windows, it would have shattered. His mother, having gotten used to Jack's outbursts, plugged her ears with her fingers.

Fed up with everything, Jack sank to the ground and curled up on the bedroll, staring blankly at the room around him. His mother took her fingers out of her ears. "You know," she said, "I never told you before, but I swear to God you sound so much like Ziggy when you do that."

From Jack's vantage point, he could see Mercurians traveling about outside, blowing out the candles in the streetlights to signal that it was time for the sun to set.

"He used to scream when he came," Jack's mother said, looking out the window as well. "At least that's what I saw." She tapped the notebook in her hands with a pained expression. "Maybe this book will have something to say about that."

After dinner, which was regulated by the Mercurians and consisted of food that had been pilfered from Hunger City, Jack retired to his bedroll to sleep while his mother lay down on her stomach and lit a candle, prepared to read the account of Ziggy Stardust's final days on Earth. He dozed while she strained her eyes in the half-light. Eventually Jack was woken up by the sound of sobbing.

"Mom?" Jack sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes, looking over towards the bedroll where his mother lay, her head bent over the leather-bound notebook and her hands cupping her face. "Mom?" Jack crept towards her on all fours and knelt beside her, stroking her heaving back. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, God, Jack," his mother choked, tears pouring down her face. "How did I not know this?! How did I not know any of this…"

Jack lay down next to his mother and draped an arm around her, waiting until she had stopped crying. He snuck a peek at the book- his mother was on the very last page.

"You need to read this," she murmured when the tears had dried up. "I can't believe I didn't know anything about your father. Read the book, Jack. Read it and weep."

He kissed her salty cheek, took the book, and went back to his bedroll to sleep uneasily the rest of the night.


	13. Chapter 13

Three days. Three days were spent underground in Mercury City, three days of pain, of frustration, of leadership, and finally, of decision and action.

Jack awoke on the morning of the first day was a distinct sense of loss and disorientation. Where was he? This wasn't home… this wasn't his pleasant little bedroom with the wide glass-less window and the disorganized dresser. This wasn't the very top room of a skyscraper, so high above the ground that it gave his mother vertigo to climb up there. No, this room was on the ground, and there was practically nothing in it save the odd bedroll he was lying on, a few candles in the holders on the floor, and his mother slumbering on another bedroll a foot or two across the room.

Seeing Jack's mother, and her bandaged shoulder, brought back everything that had happened the day before. He was underground now, in the small Mercury City, built by the inhabitants of Mercury. And if Xyloto was to be believed, none of the humans could ever go aboveground again, at least not until the Diamond Dogs gave up. But Jack knew that as long as he, the half-Aresian, was still alive, the dogs would never give up. And Kylie was still missing.

Jack sat up, got to his feet, and brushed his fingers with his hair. He then did a few stretches, trying to block the immense void that was opening in him out of his mind. Little bits of it came sneaking back to him anyway, and the more he tried not to think about what could be happening, or have already happened, to Kylie, the more his mind wandered back to the topic. Jack had never felt so empty before, as if something vital to him, such as his Aresian blood, had been stolen.

_Well, _his mind snarked. _Today's going to be a great day._

Once he was dressed and had eaten breakfast, Jack went outside to find his friends the Nadsats, more specifically Jagger, Sledge, Widdy, and Dice. Passing through the crowds of people, whenever a teenager caught sight of him, they would call out "Child of Bog!" and wave. Jack waved back, uncomfortable with all the sudden attention. He wondered if this had been what his father had felt like when he was a musician on Earth, and how Aladdin Sane had been able to stand the teenagers' hero-worship.

Eventually Jack found Jagger and Sledge, standing together amidst the hubbub of people trying to get their breakfasts. Jagger looked more downhearted than usual, and hating himself for it, as he skated idly back and forth, wearing a hole in the ground. Sledge was looking away from Jagger, not amused with his antics, his hands in his pockets. Jack approached them and greeted them, and his friends gasped in one voice, "Hi hi hi there, Hallowe'en Jack."

"Where are Widdy and Dice, oh my brothers?" Jack asked the Nadsats. Jagger's face fell into a scowl. "They are with like their _family, _Child of Bog." He sneered at the word "family" as if it was dirty. "They have abandoned their poor Nadsat brothers and left us all on our oddy knockies."

"That's not true, brother Jagger," Jack pointed out. "I am here, and so is Sledge. We can't be on our oddy knockies if we are together."

Jagger snorted. "True, Child of Bog, but what is like important is that Widdy and Dice, our droogs and brothers, have left our malenky shaika of Nadsats. They have chosen to spend more like time with their _family _than with us." He sent himself flying forward on the skates, turning around in midstride and coming back to Jack and Sledge, a sour look on his face that implied he'd rather be alone.

"What's so wrong about spending time with family, oh my brother?" Jack asked Jagger. "Widdy and Dice have not viddied their family in a long long time. I am sure that they'll come back when they've gotten over it." He paused, thinking of something. "You never have had a problem with my em, Jagger."

"Your em is different," Jagger complained. "She is the Em of the Child of Bog. She is holy-like. Widdy and Dice are not like descended from Bog's Angels."

All of this talk about holiness and religion and how it pertained to him was beginning to wear on Jack, and he wished that things could go back to the way they had been before, when he was just a Diamond Dog- now a Nadsat- and nothing more. He didn't say anything along these lines, though, and responded to Jagger with, "I would skazat that if Widdy and Dice want to viddy their family, let them do so."

"Your slovos are our like laws, brother-" Jagger began.

"Hallowe'en Jack," he and Sledge sighed together.

Jagger took up the reins again, running his fingers through his stiff, spiky hair. "It is just not kindly like to viddy them defect to their _families _when we know we might need them in the like case of a bitva."

Jack nodded, suspecting that Jagger's problem was more personal than he let on. He moved over to Sledge and gave him a nudge. "You've been very quiet-like all this time, oh my brother. Are you hoping that soon you too will viddy your parents?"

"No," Sledge replied definitely, shaking his head. "No, no, my pee will not want to viddy me at all, even if he were to like find me. I am hoping we never viddy each other again."

Jack was surprised by Sledge's answer. Why would he not want to see his father? He asked, "Why is that, oh my brother Sledge?"

Sledge grunted and turned aside. "The same like reasons I ran away from him to begin with, Child of Bog. Let us not govoreet about that."

Jack stopped himself from provoking Sledge anymore, assuming that his reasons were good ones. He looked at the two Nadsats before him, both now wearing disgruntled expressions and avoiding his eyes.

"Appy polly loggies for-" Jack started, but Jagger cut in with, "Child of Bog, we are sure you have something more polezny for you to do now than stay with us. It is time for you to itty off now."

If Jack had been surprised already, he was now taken aback. Right when he was starting to get used to the idea of leading the Nadsats, Jagger was taking control and dismissing him? Something wasn't right. Jack opened his mouth, but this time couldn't even get a word out before Jagger growled. "Child of Bog, I like think it best if you do as I skazat." He rolled towards him, and Jack took an automatic step back.

"Okay, my brother." He began to retreat. "But I promise, I will not like abandon you in the way that Widdy and Dice did. I will be back."

Neither Jagger nor Sledge said a word, turning their backs and effectively locking Jack out of the conversation.

"Have you read Ziggy's diary yet?" was the first thing Xyloto said to Jack as he entered the Martins' temporary home to check up on them and the Mercurians guarding the manhole. To his delighted surprise, several of the Mercurians who had been guarding the hole were missing. Could it be that they have gone aboveground to try and make peace with the Diamond Dogs? Jack could hardly dare to hope.

"No," he answered Xyloto, walking over to stand by the ladder and look up. "Mom read it, though."

"What did she think?" Xyloto asked.

Jack shrugged. "It made her cry. She wanted me to read it right away." He tapped one of the ladder's rungs, and one of the Mercurian guards stepped in closer to Jack, flashing him a distrustful look.

"Hm," Xyloto said thoughtfully. "Why aren't you reading it now, then?"

"I came here to see how things are going," Jack replied, turning around and sliding his hands into his new leather jacket.

"They're going," Mylo said in response from her corner of the room. "Some of the Mercurians have gone aboveground to see if they can talk to the Diamond Dogs." Jack nodded. It was just as he'd suspected.

"Do you know when they'll be back?" A thought seized him, and Jack stepped forward eagerly. "Did you tell them to look for Kylie?"

"They should return before sunset," Mylo said. "As for Kylie, we did describe her to them. If she's in the city, the Mercurians should be able to find her."

Jack's heart leapt with joy, though a very small part of his brain told him that the search might be useless. Kylie might already be- He shoved the thought away and tuned the quiet voice out.

Something new crossed his mind, and Jack asked Mylo, "Can the Mercurians understand the Earthly language?"

"Xyloto…" Mylo said, looking over at him. "I think you'd do a better job explaining this."

Xyloto nodded, a small smile coming to his face, lifting away the gloom that had been sitting there previously. "The Mercurians can understand English just fine. That's the language we're speaking, and the most common language spoken in Hunger City. They can't speak it or any other Earthly language, though, because their vocal cords are physically unable to pronounce our words. They can communicate with us through writing, and we them."

Nearby him, Jack saw a Mercurian nodding in agreement to what Xyloto was saying out of the corner of his eye.

"Where did you learn so much about the Mercurians?" It seemed oddly convenient to Jack that Xyloto should know about these people just in time for him to need to know it.

Xyloto leaned back and shrugged, drumming his fingers against each other. "Living on top of one of the ways to get into their city forced us to get along and interact somewhat." Jack was startled by a sudden burst of noise, a sound made from deep within the throat. He turned and saw that a few of the Mercurians had screwed up their faces in what could only be laughter. The sound boomed out of them, impressive for people of such a small size. Jack was at once charmed and intrigued by them.

Having run out of questions, and still needing a way to distract himself, Jack turned his attention back to Mylo and Xyloto and asked, "Do- do you guys have any plans for the day?"

"No, not at all," Mylo said evenly. Xyloto was not fooled by Jacks' feeble attempts at taking his mind off of unpleasant things, and said, "Jack, I know you're anxious for the Mercurians to be back, but you'll just have to wait a while. I'm sorry. Why don't you read your father's diary in the meantime?"

His father's diary… Though disappointment sunk heavy like a stone in Jack's chest, he couldn't help but consider the diary's tempting prospect. Mylo, Xyloto, and his mother had all told him he should read it, and it being the last remaining connection to his father… Jack shook off all thoughts of the Mercurians and his best friend, and set his mind on the diary and what words is could possibly reveal about his enigmatic father.

Departing from the Martins' building, Jack walked across the square, where adults were talking to each other in doorways and gaggles of Nadsats skated every which way. Jack caught threads of conversation over the sound of squeaking, and understood that the humans were worried about how long the city would be evacuated and how long they had to stay. There were snippets of talk about defensive measures to be taken against the Diamond Dogs- who were referred to as only "the dogs" by the general populace, spoken in a tone that conveyed great hatred and scorn- and of electing a leader for mankind's dwindling population. Rumors of the Mercurian peace talk group/search party that Xyloto had sent out that morning had apparently trickled their way into the population, and there was much excited talk about an armistice being reached for the Diamond Dogs, if they could only hope. Jack could barely believe his ears when he heard this. The people were expecting a victory to come so soon? But the Diamond Dogs were patient and could occupy the city forever. The only outcome of the excursion aboveground that mattered to Jack was whether or not Kylie would be found.

As he was approaching his temporary home, two children ran up behind him and caught ahold of his arms. "Child of Bog!" they yelled in unison, and Jack blinked- apparently this Bog thing had been passed down from the Nadsats to an even younger generation.

"What is it?" Jack asked as the children, a boy and a girl, came speeding in front of him, giggling. They looked at each other mischievously and then shouted together, "We want you to skate with us!"

"But you don't-" Jack began, and then he heard snickers coming from behind him. Turning around, Jack noticed Widdy and Dice skating leisurely towards him with their hands clasped together as usual, Dice's mother and another woman standing behind them.

"Hi hi hi there!" Widdy called out, breaking free from Dice's grip on his hand and gliding effortlessly over to the children, whose hair he ruffled. "Did you like our malenky trick, oh my brother the Child of Bog? We have taught my cousins all about the like religion of Bog."

_But I'm not Bog, _Jack thought, but instead of saying anything he laughed as Dice came up to see his siblings. "I thought it was either me or the kids who had gone bezoomy!"

"You do need a good pair of skates, though, my brother," Dice said, giving Jack a meaningful eye. Just then the two women finished their walk to end up by Jack's side, and the two children rushed over to them. Dice's mother stared at Jack with a friendly warmth in her eyes. "So this is Bryce's friend he and David have been telling me about. You must be Jack."

"I am," Jack said, holding out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you." They exchanged greetings while the other woman- presumably Widdy's mother, as she resembled him a bit- fussed over her niece and nephew.

"So," Widdy said when the meeting was out of the way. "What have you been doing today, Child of Bog? Are you vareeting anything?"

"Not really," Jack said, giving one of his many shrugs. "I was about to itty off to that domy over there and read on my oddy knocky. Xyloto, the veck who privodeeted us here, gave me a book of my old pee's that he thinks will be polezny for me."

"Ah," Dice said, his eyes glowing with reverence. "A book of your pee's? Is it holy like what is called the Christian Bible?"

"Oh, don't play dumb, Bryce," his mother chastised him lightly. "You know full well what a Bible is."

"No, it's not that," Jack said. "It is like a diary, I think. I must itty off now." He headed off in the direction of his temporary home and turned backwards to shout, "Jagger and Sledge are like missing you, oh my brothers!" Jack closed the door to the temporary home with laughter resounding in his ears. _"Jagger? Miss us?"_

_If only you knew, _thought Jack.

Oddly enough, Jack's mother was nowhere to be seen inside the building. For a moment Jack was worried, but then he remembered that Mercury City was small- she couldn't have gotten that far. He sat down on his bedroll and lit a candle for better light, placing the leather-bound notebook in his lap and opening it up to the first page. Almost immediately, the words made him smile.

_October 2__nd__, 1986 (Earth years)_

_Hello to whoever is reading this, besides myself of course,_

_My name is Ziggy Stardust. I come from the planet that humans (the inhabitants of Earth, and the species of the person who is most likely reading this besides me) call Mars, the fourth planet in what they call the Milky Way Galaxy, directly after Earth and the last planet before the asteroid belt. I am the only Martian that I know of left living, and I have come to Earth to try and pull off a feat which was deemed impossible on my home planet:_

_I am here to save the Earth. _

So what had stopped him from doing so? Jack was immediately engrossed as he bent his head over the notebook and began to read the grim, cautionary tale of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

_I've noticed now, after spending several months on Earth, that Martians and humans are not quite so different after all. We look remotely like each other to start out with, besides the fact that all Martians have pure white skin and pointed ears, and our eyes come in so many different colors. Really, I find it quite dull that humans can only have blue, brown, and green eyes- where's the fun in that? But anyway. I suppose the only real difference between humans and Martians is our temperaments. It's come to my attention that humans are far more hateful than Martians. On Mars, we hadn't had a war for billions of years. What's the point of killing people to achieve some sort of political victory? Here, it appears that wars are more common than they were on Mars, for Floyd says that his father was killed in one when he was a baby, and I presume there have been more since then. And of course I can't forget the battle that occurred between gangs when Floyd and I were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Seeing those bodies afterward made me sick. I don't understand why humans seem to think that killing each other is a good idea. All you get is more heartache each time, until the pain cannot be filled in._

_I think it would do Earth and its inhabitants a great deal of good if the humans practiced what we on Mars called "free love." Everyone loved one another, and there were no fights caused by this (except for the one boy who damaged my eye, but that's another story that I'm reluctant to tell tonight). In fact, we worshipped not God, but a far more potent force- the power of love itself. Here's some lyrics from one of my songs for you- "Soul love, the priest that tastes the word and told of love, and how my God on high is all love, though reaching up my loneliness evolves by the blindness that surrounds Him." I do not need so-called religion that humans seem to cling to on Earth. As long as there is love in my life, which there isn't currently but was once, I can feel close to a high being. _

"Jack?"

He was startled out of his father's passionate words as his mother made her way through the door and greeted him. As soon as she saw the notebook in his hands, her expression turned bleak, and she fell silent.

"Me too," Jack murmured, watching his mother's stricken countenance. His head swam slightly, a squishy feeling climbing into his stomach. How long had he been sitting here, reading this diary of his father's and becoming more and more enamored and familiar with him? Wax was running in rivulets down the sides of the candle. It was a relief when Jack's mother gave him the news.

"Jack, the entire population of Hunger City, or what's left of us anyway, is supposed to gather together in the square right now. Apparently there was a group of Mercurians sent out this morning-"

"I know about them," Jack interjected.

"-and they've just now come back," his mother finished. "We're going to hear the report from aboveground."

Jack stood up and stretched his limbs, blowing out the candle. Trying to sound nonchalant, he asked, "Did they bring anyone with them?"

"Not that I know of," his mother said. "Come on." They walked out the door and into the large group of people who were standing around with mixes of confused, hopeful, and irritated expressions. Somewhere in the crowd, Jack found the faces of the Nadsats- Sledge and Jagger were standing together, while Widdy and Dice stood with their family nearby. Jack pushed through the crowd to reach Jagger's side, and Jagger gave him a silent nod.

"What are we waiting for?" someone shouted in the crowd, and there was a quick flurry of voices explaining that someone was going to present the Mercurian's field report from aboveground. This was followed by asking who it was that was going to present, and Jagger gave Jack a nudge. "Child of Bog, you need to govoreet to the crowd. You are like our leader after all."

"What? Me?" Jack stared at Jagger in disbelief. "What makes you think I can like address a crowd of lewdies this bolshy? I'm no like public skazatter, brother Jagger. Besides, I do not even know what the report skazats in itself."

Jagger shut his mouth, pressing his lips into a firm line. For a moment Sledge looked as if he was going to speak up on behalf of Jagger, but then a loud voice rang out over the crowd. "Everyone, quiet! Can you hear me?" It was Xyloto speaking, but Jack couldn't see him over all the heads in front of him. There was a low rumble of yes's in response to Xyloto's question, and then suddenly Xyloto was towering over the crowd, holding onto an unseen person's hand below. "Ah. These suitcases aren't too steady," he murmured. "All right, everyone! As I'm sure you've heard already, a group of Mercurians were sent out this morning to try and make peace with the Diamond Dogs, the group of dogs who have taken over Hunger City."

"What do they want?" someone called.

"Is it safe to go back?" another voice asked.

"Was anyone left alive?" one more clamored, and suddenly all voices were talking at once, asking about such-and-such family member or this-and-that friend. _Was anyone left alive? _The question sent a shiver rocketing through Jack's bones. Of course someone was left alive. Kylie had to be alive. Or was she?

Again, Xyloto shouted for silence. "If you'll let me speak, I have the report to read to you." He cleared his throat and removed a scrap of paper from his pocket, unfolding it and opening his mouth to address the crowd.

"'We met with the Diamond Dogs shortly after coming into the city, coming across them a few feet from the place we had emerged. The Diamond Dogs spoke to us telepathically, and we told them that we wished them no harm and only wanted to know why they were attacking the city and if they would give it back to the humans. The leader of the Diamond Dogs told us that he would permit all Mercurians to come and go in the city as we pleased, but they would kill any human or Aresian on sight if they came aboveground. All they wanted, they said, were two things. They wanted to kill the Aresian who is living underground with the population, and they wanted to keep control of the city until all humans have perished underground. We tried to persuade the Diamond Dogs to negotiate with the humans, and they admitted that they would try to explain everything to you. But, they said, if the humans arrive aboveground showing any sign of hostility to them, they would attack right away. As for the matter of the Aresian, the Diamond Dogs were confident that they could get him without any trouble. We left the city seeing no sign of living humans.'" Xyloto lowered the paper. "It appears that our hiding place has now become our prison. If we stay down here, we'll eventually starve to death, even if it does take months. The Diamond Dogs will never relinquish control of the city. But peace can be achieved if we talk to the Diamond Dogs instead of fighting them, and give them the half-Aresian that they want to kill." Even before he was done speaking, a loud clamor of voices rose up.

"What's an Aresian?"

"You spoke with the _dogs?"_

"Why are the Mercurians allowed into the city and not us?"

"Where's my wife?" At that, the crowd began demanding to know what had happened to their friends and family, drowning out even Xyloto as he tried to regain control. Jack was pushed forward as the people surged towards Xyloto, looking for answers. He stumbled and felt someone's rough hand- Jagger's- grab onto his shoulder to keep him from falling. Then a sudden noise rose up above the cacophony, a noise that was so deafening the crowd had to stop and clap their hands to their ears. When it ended, Xyloto began to speak loudly again.

"I hope you've all settled down. I don't have answers to your questions, unfortunately. I only know what the Mercurians told me."

"How do we know the Mercurians aren't lying?" someone shouted.

"How do you talk to them in the first place?" another wanted to know.

"All I want to know is how the hell did they talk to _dogs?!" _Before the crowd could seize the question and be overcome with it, Xyloto hurriedly quieted them down again.

"I only know what the Mercurians told me," he repeated firmly. "The leader of the peace group wrote his report down for me to read, which is how I'm able to tell you about it. I would trust the Mercurians. I've known them for a while now, and some of you have to. Have they ever seemed suspicious to you?" Xyloto sighed and brushed his fingers through his short hair. "As for the last question, these are not ordinary dogs. They're creatures from another planet, just as the Mercurians are from Mercury, we humans are from Earth, and the Aresians are from Mars, and they are called the Diamond Dogs." They was a rustle of surprised realization as the humans recalled their nursery rhymes- _The Diamond Dogs are poachers and they hide behind trees… _"They communicate telepathically," Xyloto finished, looking down at his hands. "Now, I think it's time to make a decision on what to do next."

"What's an Aresian?" a lone voice shouted. Jagger and Sledge dug their elbows into Jack. "Child of Bog, if you are going to skazat anything, now would be the like time to do it." Jack shook his head, digging his hands into his hair. "Appy polly loggies, my brothers…" He saw Xyloto motioning for him to come up, but shook his head. "I can't…"

"Aresians are the inhabitants from Mars," Xyloto explained. "They called their planet Ares. None of them are alive anymore, except for the half human hybrid that still survives in our population, who the Diamond Dogs want to kill."

"What's so special about _him?" _someone muttered in scorn. Xyloto shot him a dirty look and didn't reply.

"As I see it, we have three options on what to do next," he said to the crowd. "First off, we can stay down here in relative safety and have the Mercurians smuggle supplies from Hunger City so that we can survive indefinitely in Mercury City." A few derisive voices muttered quietly. Jack had to agree that this was by far the least preferable option.

"Secondly," Xyloto continued, "we can agree to speak with the Diamond Dogs, hand over the Aresian, agree to whatever terms they want from us, and return to the city." The words seemed to pain him, and he pointedly looked away from Jack, who felt sick. Did Xyloto truly think sacrificing him was a good idea? The crowd didn't seem to take kindly to this second option either, and someone close to Jack mumbled, "But what if they're lying and they kill us as soon as we come back?"

_My thoughts exactly, _Jack thought. Next to him, he felt Sledge and Jagger move closer until they were pressed against him, linking their arms into his. "No vonny dog is going to vred the Child of Bog," Jagger hissed. "Us Nadsats will not let it to sloochat!"

Jack swayed as he heard a voice call out, "What's the third option?" He prayed that it would be a better choice than the first two.

"Well," Xyloto said, uneasily rubbing his hands, "the last option is, we fight the Diamond Dogs. We gather all the weapons we have, agree to the negotiation, and then attack the dogs as soon as they arrive."

The crowd response to this point was much louder and much more unpleasant sounding. A shiver went up Jack's spine as someone yelled, "Yes! Kill the dogs!" Everyone else in the crowd soon took up the chant, and Jack turned to Jagger and Sledge in bewilderment. This wasn't a good option either! His slim hopes that maybe his friends would keep sensible about this were snuffed out as Jagger raised his voice, his hand punching the air and his face full of anger.

"I skazat, oobivat those grahzny Diamond Dogs who oobivatted Aladdin Sane!"

A gleeful cry of "ALADDIN SANE!" came from the Nadsats, followed by a boisterous "YEAH!" Jack was overcome with an odd horror. No… this wasn't right…

"We will not let the Child of Bog snuff it!" Jagger yelled, his voice lost in the crowd, but somehow the Nadsats still heard him and responded with, "NO!" All eyes seemed to turn onto Jack, and he felt hideously uncomfortable, like a bug under a microscope. He tried to speak up, but his dry throat wouldn't allow any words to form. What was so wrong with this picture?

_Even if peace might cause my death, _Jack realized, _there's even more of a chance if we fight the Diamond Dogs. They'll slaughter us all! _Was it better to die as a sacrifice for the Diamond Dogs, or in a massacre against them? At first Jack had wanted to resist the dogs with his heart and soul. He knew from Aladdin Sane that they were evil, and would only stop once the last Aresian was dead. But Aladdin Sane had allowed the Diamond Dogs to get him before he sent the fatal shot flying into his heart. If Aladdin Sane had allowed himself to die without dignity, then surely Jack could afford to turn himself into the Diamond Dogs, if that was what it took to bring peace again. Besides, there could be no bloodshed that might cause more humans to fall. Eventually the entire race would be destroyed, and the Diamond Dogs would have gotten what they wanted.

"Stop!" Jack hissed as he made his mind up. He clutched at Jagger and Sledge, but they seemed to be caught up in the frenzy for a fight, shouting incoherently along with the crowd. Desperately, Jack tried to make his voice heard. "This isn't right! Listen to me! We don't have to fight them!" But his dissenting opinion fell on deaf ears. The people wanted a battle, and a battle it appeared they would have.

"Settle down!" Jack couldn't be sure who was yelling this, but it sounded a lot like Mylo. Then- "SETTLE DOWN!" came the voice more forcefully, and the earsplitting noise that had jolted the crowd out of their protests before rang across the square. The people's cries for blood turned to cries of pain, and they fell silent immediately as Mylo took the makeshift stand.

"Thank you," she said to an unseen entity at her side. Then her brown eyes lifted up to address the crowd. "Xyloto has presented the options on what course of action to undertake. We must put it to a vote immediately."

"Wait," a familiar voice spoke up. "How can we vote if there's no leader?" Twisting his head, Jack could see that the speaker was his mother.

Mylo blinked at Jack's mother, licking her lips. "First we will vote for a leader, if you feel we need one. Are there any nominations?"

The square instantly filled with voices shouting names, crying out who they thought would make a good leader for the people. Jack once again watched as all the eyes of the Nadsats turned onto him. Jagger grabbed his hand and pulled him forward unwillingly. "I nominate the Child of Bog, Hallowe'en Jack!"

"Hallowe'en Jack!" cried the Nadsats. "Hallowe'en Jack!" Jack, taken aback, tried to flee, but Sledge and Jagger held fast to his arms. The Nadsats in the crowd began to converge on him, shouting his name over and over. "Hallowe'en Jack! We want Hallowe'en Jack!"

"No!" Jack shouted back, twisting in his friends' grip. "I can't lead you! Stop it!"

"You can lead us," Jagger's voice sounded softly in Jack's ear. "You have led the Nadsats this far."

Jack, rattled by the weight of the eyes that were pressing down on him and the forward movement of the Nadsats, argued, "But they'll never listen to me! I'm just a teenager, Jagger- they won't take me seriously!"

"But you are the Child of Bog!" an unfamiliar Nadsat who had caught Jack's words said, and Jack shook his head. "They won't understand. They'll think it's some game…" He pulled free of Jagger and Sledge and started to move away from the crowd, making towards the temporary home of himself and his mother.

"But-" Jagger began to protest, but Jack covered his ears. "I- I _can't_!" He turned and ran blindly away from the crowd in the square, and didn't stop running until he was back in the house that he had started out in. The noise of the crowd was still audible from inside.

_What good would my leadership do to them?, _Jack wondered wearily, and then suddenly wanted to slap himself. Stupid-! He could have led the people to believe that peace was the answer! He could have helped avert conflict and convinced them that he had to die for them, as he had convinced himself!

Ultimately too spent to even argue with himself, Jack dragged himself over to the bedroll and lay down on his back, breathing hard. How had Aladdin Sane done it? How had he been able to carry the weight of the Nadsats who placed their faith in him, believing him to be Bog or God? How had Jack's father himself managed to cope with the daunting task of saving the planet Earth and having everyone look up to him?

Jack's father… Turning his head, Jack's eyes fell on the leather-bound notebook, which was still open. He rolled gently onto his stomach and began to read where he had left off.

_I think out of all the things in the world I could possibly want, what I want most is love. That's all I ask for from the humans, really- they give me their love, and I give them songs. It's been too long, far too long, since I felt loved by anyone. The Pinkertons- Floyd's family who found me after my crash- like me and care about me, but they don't _love _me, not to the extent that I want anyway. I miss being adored. I miss the feeling of someone's smile directed at me, or someone's arms around me. Even the smallest word of praise can take me higher. But having lived on that wretched spacecraft for at least a million years, I've almost forgotten what it's like to be loved. My family and friends, everyone that I ever cared about, everyone I LOVED, have all been dead for about the same amount of time. But if I have to bring them into this, it's not living without their love that half-killed me up in space. It was living with the memory of how easily they turned to NOT love me…_

_I HATE YOU_

_I HATE ME_

_I HATE THIS GODDAMNED PLANET_

_DEATH TO ALL OF YOU_

_DEATH IS NOT THE ANSWER_

"Xyloto won the election," Jack's mother told him when she came through the door. "The people then voted to go to war with the Diamond Dogs." She paused, collecting herself, and then added defiantly, "I wasn't one of them." When things settled down outside, Jack went to get dinner from the Mercurians. He and his mother ate in stony silence together, various weighty topics running through their individual minds, and then went to bed as the streetlights started to go out. Jack returned to his father's disjointed diary entry and read through pages and pages of drug-addled ramblings, his heart sinking more and more.

The last three entries were relatively coherent, and Jack was shocked and deeply saddened to find that his father had finally given up the fight against his addictions, even though he knew they were killing him. The final entry bore not a date, and summed up his father's downfall in six words- "_You're a rock and roll suicide."_

Putting the book down, a cold heaviness sunk into Jack's bones. He stared blankly at the notebook, rocking forward slightly, until his mother, who was stretched across her bedroll but not sleeping, whispered to him, "Wasn't that a sad story?"

Jack could only nod, still staring at the diary, and his mother sighed. "God, but I wish I'd known more about him." She turned to the other side so that her back was facing Jack. "I think you should go to bed now, Jack. No use sitting up and brooding about the past."

"I'm not brooding," Jack snapped, and his harshness surprised even him. He looked down at the diary again. "Besides, I wasn't even alive back then."

His mother sighed and said nothing, and Jack blew out the dripping candle near his bedroll and stood up. His mother remained silent as Jack slipped out the door and walked onto the quiet street, turning the day's events over in his mind. As the night had fallen aboveground and the streetlights of Mercury City had been put out, the town square was bathed in blackness. Jack waited, standing all alone in the middle of the square until his eyes adapted to the lack of light. He looked upwards, something he hadn't yet done in Mercury City, and was put off by the blankness of the ground above him. This wasn't natural night at all. Where were the stars that Jack saw every night through his glassless window, lulling him into sleep? Where was the moon that rose so early and greeted Jack with its radiance, reflecting light off of the warm, powerful sun? Jack had never noticed before how prominent the sky was in his life until it was no longer there. _And isn't it always that way?, _he thought to himself, remembering the newspaper article, the album, the diary.

Jack continued to peer up at the imposing earth above his head, and imagined what was happening on the flip side. The Diamond Dogs would be settling into sleep, curled into gray and black lumps and dreaming of the cruelty they had inflicted on the humans… They would be romping the streets of Hunger City, on a mission to sate their mad bloodlust. And some would be sleeping in the Hole In The Wall, their paws curled protectively around Aladdin Sane's bones.

"Kylie," Jack whispered to himself, even his lowest murmur sounding loud in the silence. A shudder passed through him, and an involuntary sob escaped his lips. _"Kylie." _The pavement was uninviting as Jack collapsed on his knees in the street, his eyes stinging and his hands, clasped together, trembling wildly.

_She's there. She's there. She has to still be there._

A few moments later Jack had raised both his arms and his head to the roof above Mercury City, staring with wide, barely-seeing eyes at what he knew still existed, though it wasn't visible underground. A spasm rippled through his body, and then Jack forced himself to stay still, his blinking eyes scanning and searching what lay above him.

Now Jack knew what it was that had kept Aladdin Sane alive through the years in Hunger City, although he had more than enough reason to shoot himself with the single bullet. Now he knew why his father Ziggy Stardust had given so much of himself to the population of Earth, even though they had ultimately destroyed him. Most importantly, Jack now knew how they had been able to lead their respective audiences, Aladdin Sane by posing as a God and Jack's father as a rock and roll messiah. It wasn't any kind of God or Bog that the Aresians had relied on. It was love. Pure, undiluted soul love and their faith in it had kept both Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust alive for millions of years and given them the power to lead the idealistic humans who wanted something to believe in. Just as the humans had considered Jack's father a Messiah and Aladdin Sane as a God, so the Aresians had culled their power over others from their own faith in love itself. Without such faith, neither of them would have been able to go on living, or cause what they had caused to happen when they were alive.

And it was this faith that Jack now found himself turning to in his own time of need. He had been away from religion for far too long. First it was Christianity, with its Bible and all, and then it had been the smoky, darkly-lit religion of Bog and rock and roll. Now Jack was returning to his Aresian roots in clutching at soul love for his faith. The hot sun in the morning, the gentle moon and the stars at night; these were things that Jack loved and knew he could always rely on. And he was in love with Kylie. As long as the sky remained over his head, Jack could live. As long as Kylie was alive, he could breathe.

It was love that enabled a human or an Aresian, or a hybrid such as Jack, to do what he or she had thought was impossible- take control of a crowd and lead them to a victory. Jack knew with all his heart that fighting the Diamond Dogs was not the right path to take. It would lead to too many deaths in vain. The right choice was to agree to negotiate with the Diamond Dogs, even if it meant Jack would have to die. He was willing to make the sacrifice if it freed the people he loved- his mother, Kylie, her parents, Eva, every single one of the Nadsats- and brought peace among them at last. It would not be a weak thing to do, to give himself up. Aladdin Sane had given up in the end, after all. Though Jack's heart burned when he thought of never talking with his mother again, of never kissing Kylie or skating with the Nadsats, he knew at the same time that he had already done these things enough, and now he needed to give them up for the good of the civilization.

Jack closed his eyes and pressed his hands together, whispering an awkward, hastily thought of prayer to the new power of soul love that governed his life. He crossed himself as if he were still a Christian and then slowly got to his feet, turning back to his temporary home.

_I'm sorry, Mom, _he thought to his sleeping mother as he walked through the house's door, able to tell from the feel of the air that she had already drifted off. _Don't mourn me when I'm gone. This is something I have to do._


	14. Chapter 14

"This is ridiculous, Jack."

"No, it's not. You said just yesterday that peace could be achieved if we 'hand over the Aresian.'"

"I wasn't thinking yesterday. Besides, the people have voted to go to war now. Seeing as I'm their new leader, I think I should uphold their decisions. It's not what I want, believe me, but I'm just as reluctant to send you as an offering to the Diamond Dogs. Remember, they might be bluffing."

"They're not bluffing. I've heard them talk to me in my mind. They want to kill me because I'm half-Aresian, and that's all they want. I have to-"

"No. You don't have to, Jack. You're too young to decide this for yourself or to be thinking about this at all."

"But weren't you eighteen years old when Earth was dying, Xyloto? You had to have-"

"I did think about my death, Jack, but by the grace of the Saviors, it was averted, and I hope it won't come back for many years."

"Who's to say you won't get killed in this battle that you're leading the humans into, though? Who's to say the entire human race will survive?"

"I can't know the future, Jack, but I believe this is the best decision. I'm sorry; you'll have to go along with it. If you had a better idea, you should have listened to your friends when they nominated you for leader."

Jack left the Martins' building feeling bitter and dejected. He leaned against a wall to try and calm down, watching the unfamiliar Nadsats skating in the square. Their movements were more vicious now, and their knives were unsheathed, mock fighting as they skated in circles. Jack wanted to join them, but he knew that if he did their eyes would turn away from him. The Nadsats had been ignoring Jack ever since the day before, when he had refused to be nominated for leader, and he hadn't seen hide or hair of Jagger, Sledge, Widdy, or Dice all day.

_It's all your fault for not agreeing to be nominated, _an annoying voice sounded in Jack's head, and he brushed it off with an angry internal glare. _Oh, sod off, Xyloto. _What right did Xyloto have to make him feel guilty? If he didn't want to go to war against the Diamond Dogs, why was he insisting on doing so?

Unable to go back to the Martins', but also unwilling to go back to his own building, Jack remained in the square of Mercury City, wishing that someone would acknowledge his existence. He longed to go back inside, but his mother was still shell-shocked from the decision Jack had revealed he had made that morning. _"Mom, I'm going to have to die for you…" _It had been very hard to say the words, and his mother had been frozen for a long while after he told her, staring at Jack in disbelief.

"_But Jack, you're my only reason for living…" _You wouldn't be saving me, were her unspoken words.

"_I have to do this for the humans. It's either the entire population of Hunger City that goes, or just me."_

"_Jack, you don't have to be noble about this. You're not Jesus Christ. You don't have to sacrifice yourself, even if it's the right thing to do… Which it's not."_

"_It is and you know it. You just don't want to lose me."_

"_Well, of course I don't! No mother wants to lose her child. Please, Jack… you don't have to do this."_

"_Yes, I do."_

The memory bubbled over Jack, and he shook himself out of it with a resigning air. He knew what he had to do, despite Xyloto and his mother's aversion to it. The Nadsats appeared to have given up on him as well, so they wouldn't care very much about protecting the Child of Bog anymore. The only regret Jack had was never seeing or touching Kylie again… But he was sure he could handle it.

When the time came for the proposed "peace talk," Jack would end this thing before it began. He would run at the Diamond Dogs before the humans could and allow them to capture and… he shuddered inwardly… devour him. With hope, this would satisfy the Diamond Dogs, and they would call off the attack. Unless one of the Nadsats, or Jack's mother, or maybe even Mylo, Xyloto, or Eva, would take this as even more of a sign that they should start fighting and incite the dogs… But no; Jack would explain to the Diamond Dogs in his mind exactly what he was planning to do before any action happened. If his plan worked, he would be joining all of his Aresian ancestors, and the rest of the human population would live another day to work things out with the Diamond Dogs and continue to expand as they so deserved and desired.

Xyloto had sent the Mercurians aboveground again to meet with the Diamond Dogs and agree falsely to the peace talk. Other Mercurians were crawling to the surface desperate for a drink. If everything went according to the official plan, the talk/battle would occur the following day. Jack was completely prepared for it.

A shadow fell across the doorway where Jack was lounging by himself in the temporary home, reading the lyric sheet in _The Rise of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. _He pretended not to notice he had a visitor and instead flipped the record case over to read the tracklisting of the album.

_Five Years_

_Changes_

_Moonage Daydream_

_Soul Love_

_Starman_

_It Ain't Easy_

_Star_

_Oh! You Pretty Things_

_Life On Mars?_

_A Day In The Life_

"Hi hi hi there," a voice said. Jack lifted his head to find Widdy standing in the doorway.

"Hi hi hi yourself," Jack said, and beckoned with his hands. "Come on in." Widdy came in, glancing around without much interest, and then crouched down before Jack, leaning his head over the record's innards.

"What sort of veshch is this, oh my brother?"

"It's called a vinyl record," Jack explained. "Our sister Kylie gave it to me. It plays lovely music, oh my brother, on a like machine called a turntable. When it is playing, you can slooshy my old pee's goloss and the music of his banda, much like our old Bog-"

"Aladdin Sane," they spoke together wearily. Widdy picked up the record case and turned it over in his hands, glancing thoughtfully at the cover. "This is your pee, one of Bog's Angels?"

"Yes," Jack said, setting the lyric sheet down. _Well… yes and no. _The photograph on the cover was indeed Jack's father, but Jack didn't think he could think of him as Bog's Holy Angel anymore.

He looked up to find Widdy meeting his gaze, and for the first time Jack noticed that Widdy's eyes were brown, flecked with a luminous brightness that turned them hazel. Widdy's thin lips parted to address Jack gently. "Oh my brother, if your pee was one of Bog's Angels and of the same race as the great Bog himself, then you are the Child of Bog, are you not?"

"As you would have it, yes," Jack said. "I am the Child of Bog."

"And," Widdy said slowly, "does that not make you like our leader, a leader for the Nadsats?"

Suddenly irritated, Jack snapped, "Yes, of course I'm your leader, if that's what you want me to be! But Widdy…" He breathed, calmed himself, and leaned in. "David… don't you viddy that that's all I am? I lead no one but the Nadsats. I cannot be like the leader of everyone else from Hunger City. Adults do not know of the like religion of rock and roll. Xyloto Martin is our leader now, and I cannot do anything."

"But, my brother," Widdy began, and then changed his tune. "Jack, you were like overheard at yesterday's meeting in the square as skazatting that this bitva that is to sloochat just tomorrow is not like the right veshch to do. If you think there is another way, why are you not leading us?"

Jack's eyes narrowed, and he pulled away from Widdy. "Did Jagger send you here, my brother?"

"No," Widdy said simply. "I came here myself. I wanted to know what you think is the right veshch to do."

Jack sighed and looked at the wall above Widdy's head. It seemed that he would have to explain himself yet again. He hoped Widdy wouldn't object too strongly to his decision.

"I think peace can be achieved if we govoreet with the Diamond Dogs, oh my brother. But they will not end the siege until I have snuffed it. Therefore, I must give myself up to them."

Widdy drew in a sharp breath, but neither he nor Jack spoke or even looked at each other for a very long time. Eventually Widdy said, "The Nadsats-"

"I know that the Nadsats want to protect me," Jack said. "But unless I am oobivatted, this bitva will never be won. Widdy, you must pony. You must tell Jagger and Sledge and Dice and all the other malchicks and devotchkas that they are not to help me in the bitva, no matter what happens. When I have snuffed it, you Nadsats must turn on the rest of the lewdies and stop the bitva. The Diamond Dogs will take my jeezny and itty off. I am sure of it."

"But-" Widdy started, but fell silent and looked downwards at his hands.

Jack laid his own hand on Widdy's shoulder. "Can you tell the rest of the Nadsats about this, oh my brother?"

"Why can't you do it?" Widdy asked sorely, pain struggling to the surface in his voice.

"Because I've had to tell my em, Kylie's family, and you all in one day," Jack explained. "It is becoming too hard."

Widdy stared into Jack's eyes, and then lifted his hand to slide Jack's off of his shoulder. He stood up, his face expressionless. "Very well, my brother. I will itty off to tell the rest of the Nadsats." Jack took up the lyric sheet again and gazed at it deeply as if it held the answer to life, as Widdy dashed out of the door.

After a brief moment, Jack had gotten completely lost in the words printed on the lyric sheet, and was so immersed that he didn't hear when the patter of feet approached the house outside. He only looked up when the door creaked open and in came the Nadsats- not just Jagger, Sledge, Widdy, and Dice, but more and more Nadsats, girls and boys alike, all the teenagers who lived in the city. There were so many of them that they couldn't all fit inside, and each wore the same solemn expression. Surprised, Jack considered standing up to meet them, but his muscles weren't working. Jagger stepped forward, sizing Jack up.

"Child of Bog," he said. "Hallowe'en Jack."

"Hallowe'en Jack," each and every Nadsat repeated.

"We have slooshied what Day-viddy-widdy has to skazat. We want you to know…"

Jack held his breath in suspense.

"…that whatever your choice may be, we are always on your side." Jagger paused, and added as an afterthought, "My brother." He looked away as Jack stood up, and then was taken by surprise when Jack fell into his arms, hugging him. Instantly all the Nadsats piled onto the embrace, emanating out into the street again.

"Appy polly loggies, Jagger," Jack whispered. "I know you must feel sad that I am going to go…" Sad didn't even begin to cover it. But all Jagger did was hold Jack, even though he would have jerked back from his touch on any other day.

"Don't worry about it, my brother," Jagger murmured back. "I pony your reasons. We all do."

The Nadsats all remained locked in embrace until Jagger let go of Jack and the entire formation broke apart. Jack stepped back and surveyed the faces of his friends- determined Jagger, tough Sledge, caring Widdy, and laughing Dice, as well as all of the many Nadsats that he had never gotten to know very well and now never would. He suddenly felt that he ought to make a speech to the crowd of people, but there were no words that felt right but two simple ones.

"Thank you. Thank you for everything."

The Mercurians' report from aboveground arrived before sunset, and was delivered by Xyloto in a subsequent meeting in the town square of Mercury City. "The Diamond Dogs agreed to meet us tomorrow shortly after sunrise, on the main stretch of the city, Love-Me Avenue." Xyloto breathed, and his eyes swept through the crowd. "Bring whatever weapons you have. We will not let them break us."

As the crowd cheered, Jack's mother gripped Jack's hand tightly. "Don't try anything funny tomorrow," she hissed. "I swear to God, if I end up losing you…"

Jack shook his head and said nothing as the crowd roiled and the voices echoed.

Day three.

With weapons clutched tightly in hand, each human, Mercurian, and half-Aresian formed a single file line to the nearest manhole that would take them up to Love-Me Avenue and the sprawling Hunger City. Jack held his Bowie knife, but he knew he wasn't going to use it. His mother had his other hand. She walked unarmed, her face tight, and Jack worried a bit that she might get harmed if an attack ensued after his sacrifice after all. There had been some concern about letting the teenagers fight, but Jack knew that the Nadsats would join in no matter what any adults told them they had to do.

Jack scaled the rickety ladder, his knife clenched between his teeth, and came up blinking in the bright sunlight, which he hadn't seen for days. For a moment he stood in a stupor, letting it fill him up with warmth, but then a gentle nudge from behind reminded him of why he was there. Along with the rest of the group, Jack went down the end of the street and stood facing the opposite direction, where they awaited the Diamond Dogs. Soon everyone was out of Mercury City and stood together, trembling as they sensed an unseen someone, or several, watching them.

The Diamond Dogs began to appear from the woodwork, and Jack swallowed hard. At first they were but black lumps in the distance, but as they neared Jack could hear each heavy breath and each click of the toenails against the concrete. All eyes of the people's army were trained on Xyloto, who was at the very front of the group, waiting for the Diamond Dogs to approach closer so that he could give the signal.

When the dogs came close enough for Jack to see their eyes, he began to wonder if he should make a break for it now. Should he take a chance and run at the Diamond Dogs and let it all end right away, or wait until they were just a bit closer… His muscles tensed. His breathing sped up. He was _ready._

Until an unusual sight drove all thoughts of sacrifice from his mind and sent his heart plummeting as it simultaneously went soaring. For there among the Diamond Dogs, a slender scrap of white skin amidst all of the dark fur, was Kylie.

She looked leaner than she had before, probably from not eating very much in the city, and her black clothing was ragged and dusty. Her face was smeared with dirt. Despite this outward appearance, though, Jack recognized the gliding way of moving. Kylie still had her roller skates.

Everything that Jack had been planning went flying out the window, and he broke from the formation and started rushing towards the oncoming Diamond Dogs. "Kylie! Kylie, what are you doing?! Kylie!"

"Jack!" Jack's mother called in distress, and the people tensed, some of them moving forward automatically before realizing that Xyloto had not yet given an order. Xyloto's face went white. "Kylie?" he whispered. The entire army watched as Jack ran towards his best friend and the girl he loved, itching to follow him and start the fight, to protect him from whatever danger was to come, but unable to do so.

Jack stumbled and halted in front of the advancing block of Diamond Dogs, suddenly afraid of their dark, menacing eyes. Kylie skated along in the middle, her gaze fixed on Jack. For once in his life, Jack couldn't read the emotion in her eyes. Was she afraid of what was to happen to her? Was she relieved to see Jack, or had she defected to the Diamond Dogs' side?

"Kylie," Jack said. "What are you doing?"

Before she could answer, a loud blasting voice entered Jack's head. _Aresian! Stay right where you are! Call off your army. _From behind Jack, the sound of gasps carried through the air, and Jack realized with shock that the rest of the people had heard the Diamond Dogs too.

"It's not my army," Jack muttered in defiance, refusing to look at any of the Diamond Dogs. His object of fixation, Kylie, folded her arms and stared silently at him. "It's Xyloto's. What do you grahzny bratchnies want, and what have you done with Kylie?"

"Jack, it's all right," Kylie spoke up, and to hear her voice again was like sweet music for Jack, even under the stress he was under. "You have to listen to me. The Diamond Dogs are not bad people."

"Not bad?" Jack repeated, scoffing. "_People?"_

_Listen to the girl, _the Diamond Dog said. _She speaks the truth. We do not want to have to harm you or your people today, Aresian, but we will if you show any signs of attack. _

Jack blinked, amazed that the Diamond Dog was being so civil. He looked at Kylie again, his thoughts all muddled up. If she said that the Diamond Dogs weren't bad, then Jack had to believe it, because his best friend would never lie to him. But what if the Diamond Dogs were putting her up to this- forcing her to say that they weren't going to harm anyone, so that when Jack believed it and the army had unarmed themselves, the dogs went in for the kill?

"Aw, can't we just start this thing already?" someone in the crowd grumbled, and another one followed that with, "Kill those dogs!"

Instantly all of the Diamond Dogs went on alert, their hackles rising and growls ripping from their throats. This made the human army cheer, but still Xyloto did not raise an attack. Kylie's eyes were wide with alarm. "Don't attack them!" she cried to the Diamond Dogs, her cool façade cracking. "We aren't going to fight today, remember? This is a peace talk."

_It will not be a peace talk until the humans have dropped their weapons, _the Diamond Dog leader said. _Put down the knives. The Mercurians promised us a peaceful negotiation, not a battle. If you listen to us, everything will turn out all right._

"How can we know it's telling the truth?" someone shouted. The army held fast to their weapons, and Jack glanced in desperation at Kylie for help. He suddenly remembered his decision to present himself as a sacrifice, and opened his mouth to offer himself up. But the moment was fleeting; it felt as if he had made the decision a million years ago. When Jack had envisioned giving himself up, he hadn't imagined that Kylie would be present to watch him. Now, seeing Kylie once more, Jack felt that he couldn't let himself die without speaking to her first.

_Listen to your girl, _the leader of the Diamond Dogs said. _She is telling the truth. Drop your weapons, humans, or we will be forced to make you._

"Jack, you have to trust me now," Kylie said, her brown eyes burning holes into him. "I'll explain everything. Just make the people put their weapons down."

"Kylie…" was all Jack could murmur, his hands longing to reach out to her. There was a clatter of metal on concrete behind him. Turning around, Jack saw that the Nadsats had all put down their weapons. They moved to take weapons from the rest of the people, with a bit of struggle. Then Xyloto gave the command.

"Stand back and drop your weapons. Don't move until I tell you to."

With a bit of grumbling, the people ended up putting their weapons on the ground, and Jack turned back to the sea of Diamond Dogs and Kylie. The leader of the dogs dipped his head.

_Thank you, humans. Thank you, Aresian. We do not wish to bring you harm today. All we want is our planet back._

"What do you mean, your planet?" Jack asked warily. Kylie laid her hand on the nearest Diamond Dog to her's back, and the sight nearly turned Jack's stomach. How could Kylie be friends with these evil creatures that wanted to kill him? What had they done to her?

_Trust us, _the leader of the Diamond Dogs sang firmly, and the rest of the Diamond Dogs repeated it. _Trust us! _The power of their voices in unison was so strong that Jack clapped his hands over his ears.

_All we are here to do is explain our reasons for laying siege to your city and agree to negotiable terms. Please let us tell our story, _the leader said. _We will only attack if you attack first or if you will not let us have the planet. Make a decision now on what you are going to do._

There was a tense silence, a moment of waiting, and then Xyloto spoke up. "We agree to listen to you," he said, and there were a few surprised "what?!"'s muttered, but the humans held still for the most part. The leader of the Diamond Dogs dipped his head again. _Thank you. We will now show you what we are talking about._ Each terrible soulless eye closed, and Kylie searched Jack's face. "Just go along with it," she said to him. "Don't be afraid." And then Jack, and the entire population of Hunger City, was sucked into the past, into a raw, unformed world that had been the unnamed planet.

It began with the gray-skins who called themselves Venusians and spoke in chiming songs that they could understand. Their song caused them to rise fully formed from the rich black earth, and as they blinked their new black eyes and shook off the mud from their fur and tasted the sweet air for the first time, the sun rose, and the very first day occurred on the planet. From then on it was their planet, and nothing but their planet. The gray-skins promised that they would never be hurt by anything or anyone.

They loped on four legs, running across the lush green ground together in wild packs. Their hearts beat in time, pumping fire-hot blood that sang in their veins. They feasted on the blood of small animals, cracking the bones open to get to the marrow, and slaked their thirst by the cold running water of the streams. When the sun sank in the sky and the world cooled down, they curled into balls and tucked their paws over their noses and dreamed of the days to come. They found mates and started families and taught their children to run. And for a long time it was still their planet.

Until one day the gray-skins, the Creators, arrived again and told them that soon, they would not be alone. They were bringing new people from a dying planet to live on their planet with them. They were very wary of this, but if the Creators would allow it, then nothing could go wrong. The gray-skins promised once again that they would never be hurt by anybody, and they were content.

The new people arrived on the gray-skins' flying ships and called themselves Aresians. They walked on two legs instead of four, like the Creators did, and their skin was as white as bone. The Aresians spoke in a language that they could not understand. When they greeted the Aresians, the new people were terrified. They ran far from them, even though they had not done anything wrong.

A settlement was established, and the new people began taking their food, water, and shelter. Hunting became harder. They were driven away from the new Aresian civilization and kicked at. Stones were thrown. As a result they became resentful and angry. Deprived of their homeland, there was only one thing to do. They took control of the Aresians' civilization and murdered each and every last one of them, devouring their flesh and drinking the strange white blood. The first intruders were done with, and the planet was theirs again.

When the gray-skins returned, they had grown mistrustful of them. They did not want to welcome any more visitors to their planet. But the Creators told them there was another race from another dying planet that needed a home, and persuaded them to allow colonization once more. This time they kept away when the new people arrived. These people called themselves Mercurians, and bore green scales and small claws. The very first thing the Mercurians did was make a pact with them. They promised not to harm them if they let the people build a city. After agreeing, the Mercurians designed their own civilization and always shared food with them.

In between the second and third landings, a man arrived in the wilderness who smelled and looked like an Aresian. Old hostility flared in them. They attempted to run him down before making the kill, but he reached the city of the Mercurians before they could get to him. Respectful of the Mercurians' wishes, they kept back and waited for the day when the Aresian would roam free once more. But such a day didn't come for another million years.

They had grown soft and settled into the idea of allowing visitors from other planets when the Creators arrived for the last time. They spoke of a third dying planet that needed assistance, and they promised not to kill the new arrivals. The people that came resembled the Aresians more than the Mercurians, and came to adopt the ways of the Aresians too- starving them, kicking them out of the Mercurians' city, and taking more and more land and food. In return, they grew back into their old ways as well, snapping and biting back whenever the new people tried to hurt them and having to scrounge for stale food in garbage cans. Finally they had had enough, and lay siege to the city. They killed the last Aresian left alive and murdered many more humans. Unfortunately, the rest took shelter in an underground hiding place that they couldn't get into. Hiding among them was yet another Aresian, whom they swore to kill as soon as they could.

_We agreed to this peace talk because we wanted out planet back. Our terms are simple. You must let us have a place in your society just as you have allowed the Mercurians to work for you. We must be treated as equals to your intelligence, not as the savage animals you seem to think we are. We, like the Aresians, the Mercurians, and now the humans, are merely another kind of person. If you let us have more power, we will only use it to further your community. We will not even touch a hair on the Aresian's head, though we might like to. If you do not agree to these terms, we will be forced to break our promise to the Venusians and kill you all._

Jack was slammed back into his body just as the army exploded in uproar.

"Give these creatures a place in our society?!"

"They're lying! They must have made the whole thing up!"

"If they felt they were being mistreated, why didn't they say so before?"

"They killed so many of us! We can't let such monsters into our society!"

"They're just dogs, for God's sake. Why should we listen to them?"

"Hunger City will go to hell under their control!"

"They want more power so they can rise against us and slaughter the rest of us!"

"We should have stayed in Mercury City!"

As the voices grew more and more cacophonous, Jack began to get the sinking feeling that this peace talk was not going to work out in the Diamond Dogs' favor. He himself wasn't sure what to believe from their story. Most of the Diamond Dogs' tale made sense, but Jack found it too hard to begin trusting a group of creatures who up until now had been hell-bent on bringing about his destruction. But if Kylie trusted them… they must be all right. Kylie would never lie to Jack.

"Why can't we just go and attack them?" someone in the army yelled, presumably addressing Xyloto. At the sound of that, the leader of the Diamond Dogs let out a harsh, angry bark that shocked the people into silence.

_Silence! There will be no fighting unless you initiate it. And if you do, we have every right to kill you all. It is taking us a lot of willpower not to leap and tear your face off right now, I assure you. Be _grateful _that we're sparing your lives. _The leader snarled his last sentence. _Goodness knows you don't deserve it._

"Jack, you need to do something," Kylie said, speaking up for the first time since the dogs had presented their story. Jack wanted to take a step forward and go to her, but the wall of Diamond Dogs blocked his way like a prison, their eyes glittering malevolently.

"Me?" Why was everyone always asking him to take control of the situation? "Kylie, what the hell should I do?"

"Talk to Dad!" Her tongue lashed out with the words. "Help him realize that he should call off the attack and agree to the Diamond Dogs' terms!"

Jack glanced over his shoulder at Xyloto briefly. He remembered their talk just the morning before- _Besides, the people have voted to go to war now. Seeing as I'm their new leader, I think I should uphold their decisions. _Xyloto led by the majority rule of the people, not by what he thought was right. Even if Jack got the whole of the Nadsats to back him on his stance, he would be drowned out by the many dissonant voices of the adults of Hunger City, and Xyloto would choose fight over flight.

But if his daughter supported the other side…

Jack turned and raced back to the army from Hunger City, and he heard several relieved sighs from the people who cared if he lived or died. He made straight for Xyloto at the head of the group. "Xyloto! You have to call off the attack!"

Xyloto peered down his nose at Jack as he came over to stand before him, tension in his shoulders and worry in his eyes. "Jack, what the hell is Kylie doing down there?"

"She's with them," Jack said. "But it's all going to be all right. I don't think they're going to hurt her."

Xyloto exhaled. "Thank God." The crowd rumbled unsettlingly behind him.

"Xyloto," Jack pleaded. "You have to make the right decision and call off the attack. Did you hear that story? All the Diamond Dogs want is their planet back. They just want a home! Surely you can give them that!"

"I can, but I doubt anyone would want me to give them that," Xyloto said. "The people want a battle, Jack. It's already been decided."

"But you can't do that!" Jack screamed, and Xyloto winced in pain, rubbing his ears. "You can't do it! We're all going to get killed if you follow what the people want! You have to do the right thing to save their lives." He paused. "Kylie is down there, for Bog's sake! Your daughter is with them!"

Xyloto closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I… I wish I had more time…" To Jack he looked like a man torn apart, torn between his opposition to the fight and his obligation to the people.

_Well, humans? _The Diamond Dogs' leader cried out. _Have you decided whether or not you're going to give us our planet back?_

"Yes!" Xyloto shrieked suddenly, his eyes flying open. "You can have your damn planet! You can live in Hunger City with us! Just please don't kill any more of us, and for the love of God, don't you _dare _hurt my daughter!"

There was a small round of cheering from the Nadsats, but their happiness was short lived as their voices were quickly drowned out by a chorus of booing from the rest of the army. "I don't care what the hell he says!" an unseen voice shouted. "Get them anyway!" Jack was swept off his feet in horror as the people grabbed their weapons and charged madly towards the Diamond Dogs. The Nadsats tried desperately to prevent them from getting very far, but the strong bodies of the adults were too much for the teenagers to hold back.

The Diamond Dogs went into instant battle mode, barking viciously and showing their teeth. _We warned you!, _the leader cried, right before the dogs went running to meet the advancing human army. Kylie was lost in the crowd, but her voice could be heard shouting to the people, "Oh, dear God, how could you all be so heartless?!"

"What have I done?" Xyloto murmured, staring emptily and brokenly at the ensuing battle on the streets. He, Mylo, Jack, and Jack's mother were the only humans not running for the Diamond Dogs. The Nadsats who were opposed to the battle were running after the people in an attempt to stop them, and the Mercurians looked on with sad, blank, or deadened expressions.

"It's not what you've done," Jack murmured, fury rising up within him. "It's what they've done." He took off towards the soon-to-be battlefield, and heard his mother shout behind him, "JACK! Jack, no! You can't do this!" But she didn't chase him, probably held down by Mylo or Xyloto, and Jack was free to join his people.

He was sure, now, that none of them would get out alive. Perhaps one or two people would escape and crawl away back to Mercury City, but with food supplies running low, they wouldn't get by easily. This was it for the entire human race, then. It didn't seem a very heroic end, to die defying a leader's orders. As Jack ran, buoyed by his feet, he realized that this was also the last of the Aresians.

There was nothing he could say or think of besides the standard, _I love you, Mom, and I love you, Kylie, and I'm so sorry it had to end like this. I love you, Jagger, Sledge, Widdy, Dice, all of the Nadsats. Here I come, Dad, Aladdin Sane, all of the Aresians._

A second later, the sky opened up and the street was covered with a blinding white light.

He stood on board a ship that flew through the air, outside of the atmosphere and away from any known planets. Around him he could see many unfamiliar faces, most of them small, rounded, pale white, and frightened. But interspersed among the crowd of people like him were another kind of people, a people who had ashy gray skin and stick-thin bodies. At his five-year-old height, everyone older than him was ridiculously tall to him, but the creatures who piloted the ship were even more so. Their hair came in rainbow pastel colors and waved about their heads like limp pool noodles, as if it had a life of its own. He came closer, wanting to know more about these people, and as he did so, the pilot or captain of the ship turned around. The creature's face was impassive, but its eyes glowed with a deep, mint green warmth that spread into his soul and calmed him, making him feel that everything was all right. All around him, the people chanted in their singsong language. _Peace, peace, peace._

Jack came out of the memory to find himself lying on the ground. Sitting up a bit, he saw that all of the other humans were picking themselves up as well. Some were crossing themselves, and others had clasped their hands in prayer. The Diamond Dogs were in submissive positions, their upper bodies scraping the ground and their eyes flashing. The only people standing were Xyloto, Mylo, and Jack's mother, behind Jack.

"What-" someone began, and then broke off to cough. Others burst into mystifying tears.

_The Creators!, _the leader of the Diamond Dogs shouted in awe, and all heads turned in his direction. _The Creators have come back! They have declared peace!_

From farther down the road, behind Jack, Xyloto's voice sounded wearily. "Yes. We are now at peace."

There was a stunned silence, and then the Nadsats began to cheer louder than they had before. To Jack's surprise, most of the rest of the people joined in.

He got to his feet and barely took any time to check himself over before he was running with all his might towards the very center of the Diamond Dogs where Kylie lay. The Diamond Dogs parted like the Red Sea to allow Jack to reach the girl he loved. She was barely on her feet by the time Jack knocked into her, hugging the living daylights out of her.

"Is it true?" Kylie murmured in Jack's ear, her arms coming around to hug him back. "Ow! You're hurting me- Is it true that there's going to be peace now?"

"Yes," Jack breathed, his single word tasting like honey. "Don't you _ever _do that to me _again, _Kylie!"

"You mean, running away and living with the Diamond Dogs?" she asked, her breath stirring the strands of black hair next to Jack's ear. "Or what?"

"Or… or…" He grabbed her face in his hands and pulled her lips close to meet his, their mouths colliding violently. Jack kissed Kylie with all the passion he could manage, and then held her tightly in his arms, so glad that she was alive, that her heart was beating, that he could almost cry.

There was a smirk in Kylie's voice. "Maybe I should get lost more often."

"Don't even joke about it," Jack muttered in her ear, rocking her back and forth.

Behind the two friends' backs, Xyloto, Mylo, and Jack's mother came walking down the street, staring in awe at the people who looked as if they had just seen God. For all they knew, they actually had. "The Saviors!" a few people gasped, still in shock. "The Saviors of the planet Earth!"

_The gray-skins, the Creators of us all!, _the Diamond Dogs whispered.

"The Venusians," Jack murmured into Kylie's shoulder.

Looking, around, Xyloto rubbed his hands together in contentment. "Well, that was a deus ex machina if I ever saw one." He went strolling through the writhing bodies on the street and approached the leader of the Diamond Dogs, waiting for him to finish his prayer before speaking to him. "Excuse me, you're the leader of these people, aren't you?"

_I am the closest they have to a leader, _the Diamond Dog said. _And you are the leader of the humans?_

Xyloto shrugged. "Something like that. All I wanted to say is, I agree to your terms. You'll get everything you want, don't worry. We just have to compromise a bit."

_It sounds like a reasonable plan, _the Diamond Dog agreed. _Are we going to shake on it?_

"If you want to," Xyloto said, holding out his hand. The Diamond Dog lifted his paw, and Xyloto clasped it and pumped it up and down. After one pump, the Diamond Dog pulled away and scooted back, snorting and shaking his head at the folly of human rituals. Xyloto stared around himself, happiness growing in him. Hunger City was safe for another day. He raised his voice to address the entire crowd on Love-Me Avenue.

"From this day forward, we will all work together, Diamond Dog, human, Mercurian, and half-Aresian alike. There will never be any hardship or conflict again!"


	15. Epilogue

The sun stretched bright over the sky, enclosing Jack in a warm lover's embrace as he skated through Hunger City, heading down Love-Me Avenue in the direction of the end of town, where Poacher's Hill lay. As always, he was on his way to meet his best friend, Kylie Martin, up on top of the hill. The walk was nowhere near as long now that Jack and his mother had moved out of the Manhattan Chase building- no more winding asphalt roads for them. As Jack skated on brand new, non-squeaking skate wheels, he nodded and greeted whatever children and Nadsats came his way with a smile, and made sure to acknowledge the Diamond Dogs as well, whenever they approached. All members of the city were headed towards the Temperance Building for the Grand Unveiling, but Jack was hoping he could spend a bit of time with Kylie in their favorite place before they had to go off together.

Up at the top of Poacher's Hill, Kylie greeted Jack with a smile, her hands on her leather-encased hips. "You want some water? I brought a bottle with me." Jack shook his head and sat down as she uncapped it. "Nope, I'm not tired at all."

"Ah, well, more for me I guess," Kylie said evenly, sipping her drink. Jack gazed off into the distance at the towering skyscrapers of Hunger City and dug his nails into the fresh grass, sighing a bit as he did so.

Shortly after their reunion on Love-Me Avenue those two years ago, when it had seemed that the Diamond Dogs were going to take over the city but crisis was averted, after all formalities and reunions were out of the way Jack had asked Kylie once more if there would ever be a second time. And as he had hoped, there was indeed a second time, taking place on one of the numerous floors of the Manhattan Chase building when his mother was asleep, and later a third, which occurred in the place that Kylie and Jack now stood and sat respectively, Poacher's Hill. Much to Jack's disappointment, however, three times seemed to be enough for Kylie.

"You know, I'm not really sure that sex is worth it," Kylie commented while putting her clothes back on after the third attempt. Jack too was a bit unhappy, his skin grass-stained and itching as he pulled on his garments. Kylie continued, "It's awkward, it's messy, it takes too long to get to the good part, and then the good part only lasts for a few seconds. And sometimes it doesn't happen at all." She was referring to the somewhat embarrassing second attempt, where Jack had reached climax long before Kylie had and then spent the rest of the time trying to fix the problem. Their third time had at least been a bit more enjoyable, but the grass scratched and they were both afraid of being seen. Together they agreed that the first time had been the best, which confused Jack, as he was sure he would improve rather than worsen with practice. He wondered why they had seemed to fit like puzzle pieces that first time, only to become more and more misshapen later on.

"Maybe we haven't been doing it right," Jack suggested. He hoped that was the only problem.

"Maybe," Kylie said gently, "we've been doing it with the wrong people."

There were other boys for her after that, and Jack never dared to ask if any of them were the right people. For him, there would be no other girl but Kylie. Even as their friendship with benefits simply became friendship and the two began to move in opposite paths, it was still Kylie's face that Jack saw in his dreams, Kylie's name that he woke up sighing. His candle was still burning brightly for the first girl he had ever met.

Kylie was aware of Jack's continued flame for her, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She was experimenting, testing the waters, and though Jack's heart ached to see her with other people, at least he had to admit that he was glad that she was happy. Occasionally they would discuss their personal relationships together on Poacher's Hill. "You like anyone now?" "No. You?" "Well, I still like you." "Oh." As Kylie had always wanted, Jack tried not to let his feelings for her ruin their friendship.

Maybe there would be another girl someday, he reflected now as he watched the wind ruffle Kylie's hair. Maybe instead of looking for love, he would let love find him. It could come in the form of anything- a meaningful smile, the flutter of eyelashes- and take Jack by the hand, leading him into the world that Kylie had already willingly stepped into. All Jack had to do was open his eyes to the opportunities around him, lest love take him by surprise when it appeared.

Or maybe he would wait forever for Kylie's experimentation to end and for her to realize that what she had been looking for had been beside her the whole time. Maybe one day she would come crawling back to Jack and ask to be his girlfriend at long last. Either option was likeable, but Jack wasn't holding his breath. All plans for the future were up in the air, which was as good a place as any to put them.

Kylie spoke then, and Jack's ears pricked up, tuning into her voice. "It's kind of a disappointment, isn't it?"

"Isn't what?"

"That we already know what the mural is going to look like." She laughed. "I mean, we haven't seen the finished product, but you helped provide all of the components for it, and I was there when you were modeling."

"Oh," Jack said, plucking a blade of grass and holding it between his fingers. "Well, it's exciting for everyone else, anyway."

They lapsed back into silence. Nowadays there wasn't much to say between the two of them, and Jack missed the days when they had been fifteen and ready to take on the world together. _If only I hadn't let her out of my sight, _he thought, and then chastised himself for it. Kylie was doing her part in the community because of the time she had spent among the Diamond Dogs, helping them find jobs to do and preserving equality. It wasn't fair for Jack to wish that she had never had the experience.

As for himself, Jack had no idea what his role in the community was going to be. Being one month younger than Kylie, and less educated, he was still in school at the age of eighteen, though Kylie had already graduated. That was what came of starting school when he was sixteen, which really couldn't have been helped because there hadn't been a school in Hunger City until he was that age. Jack now carried in his knapsack quite a few more useful supplies than before, including pencils, paper, and the only book that had been published yet in Hunger City- _Five Years and Beyond: How the Planet Earth Averted the Apocalypse and Colonized Our Planet, _by Xyloto Martin. Seeing as it was not only the sole new book in the community, but it was also the closest anyone had to a revised history book, the public had eaten it up and true to Xyloto's hopes, it did become a bestseller. _Five Years _was now on the school curriculum for both history classes and English (the Earthly language that Jack spoke, which had been chosen as the official language of the Hunger City colony) classes. Xyloto swelled with pride whenever he saw a student reading his book.

Jack had been tossing around the idea of becoming a rock musician like his father and Aladdin Sane had been once he graduated from school, but he knew that such a thing could never be. Jack's singing voice had been proven sub-par, described as "atrocious" by Kylie and "well, at least you're good at creeching" by Jagger. No other job opportunities seemed ideal to Jack, and he hoped that Kylie would take time from helping the Diamond Dogs to help him with that when the time came for it.

"How's Richard?" Jack asked Kylie to get the conversation going again.

Kylie shrugged. "He's good, I guess. How should I know? It's not like I have a telepathic link to my boyfriend that lets me know if he's doing well or not."

"Appy polly loggies," Jack muttered. He watched the crowd gather in Hunger City, and stood up, feeling it was time to start heading down. "Hey, Kylie, I think we should take off now. Your dad will probably get mad that we didn't hear his entire speech."

"He's been practicing it for days on end," Kylie snorted. "I've already heard the whole thing. But you're right, we probably should get going." She stretched out her legs and made a move down the hill. "Let's skate." Though the words had been said a thousand times before with passion, today there was something different in the tone of Kylie's voice that Jack couldn't quite place. She seemed to have something on her mind, and Jack was immediately keen on deciphering what it was.

He didn't have to wait very long to find out. Before they had even entered the city, Kylie sighed and announced her news. "Jack, I should probably tell you something," she said. "I- I'm planning on leaving Hunger City soon."

Jack felt the ground drop away from his feet. He looked to Kylie hurriedly. "What?!"

"I said, I'm going to leave Hunger City," Kylie said. "There's more of this planet that I want to see, and we humans have only just scratched the surface of it. The Diamond Dogs probably know every inch of it, and I want to follow them and see the rest of the world."

"But Kylie-" Jack began, and then stopped himself. He wanted to protest for hours about how wrong it was for Kylie to venture off into the unknown. What would he do in her absence? Who would he have to hold onto? But somewhere in the back of Jack's mind, he realized simultaneously that she was never meant to stay in the city. Kylie was more adventurous than Jack, and he was content to remain at home with his mother while she traveled the world. Perhaps their paths would never cross again, but Jack wasn't too certain about that. He was no savant like Aladdin Sane had been, but he felt that someday, he and Kylie would meet again.

"I'll miss you," Jack said, unsure of what else he was expected to say.

"Yeah, me too." She ruffled his hair, a gentle smile on her face. "It's for the better, believe me. Maybe you'll even find some nice girl to hang out with now that I'll be gone."

"Maybe," Jack murmured uncertainly. _I won't ever, ever forget you. _How could he not? She was his best friend, his first time, and he had the memory of a half-Aresian on his side, seeing everything from the inward eye in exquisite detail. Kylie would remain in his heart for the rest of his life.

"What about your family?" he asked. "What about Richard?"

"Mom, Dad, and Eva already know about my decision," Kylie said. "They fully support it. I haven't talked to Richard yet, but it's no big deal. I'm planning on breaking up with him anyway before I go." She touched Jack's shoulder warmly. "Don't worry about me, Jack. The Diamond Dogs will take good care of me."

Jack reflected on how odd it was that only three years ago, the words "Diamond Dogs" and "good care" would never be used in the same sentence. He snorted at Kylie's decision involving Richard. "You're really good at breaking people's hearts, aren't you? I mean, now you've gone through practically all of the Nadsats except Jagger, Widdy, and Dice." Giving her a sideways glance, Jack amended his last sentence. "_Did _you date Jagger?"

"I didn't care for him, but I can't say the same thing about him," Kylie said. "How is he these days, anyway? I haven't seen him for a while."

"Still skipping school," Jack sighed. "Not wanting to give up the old ultraviolence."

"Hm," said Kylie reflectively. "And Widdy and Dice are practically dating each other. It's not breaking anyone's hearts, Jack. They're not really in love with me- they just like the way I look and move."

The usually noisy buildings had now fallen silent as every person in Hunger City traveled to the same spot in the city- the broken down Temperance Building, now restored and serving as a headquarters for Xyloto as the elected official of the city. Up until today, there had been an enormous white sheet covering the left side of the building, shielding the work of Eva from the public for the Grand Unveiling. Xyloto had erected a stand in front of the building where he was to give his speech, and it was there that the citizens of Hunger City now crowded around, waiting for their mayor to come out and announce the Grand Unveiling to begin. Jack and Kylie entered the buzzing crowd and skated around looking for fellow Nadsats to enjoy the ceremony with. While Kylie skated off to join some of her other friends, Jack passed through the crowd and made his way to his mother's side. She smiled down at him- "Hey, you." Jack smiled back and slipped closer to allow a Diamond Dog to pass by him. The crowd was rife with humans, Diamond Dogs, and Mercurians alike.

"How does the mural look?" Jack's mother asked him.

"I haven't seen the finished product," Jack said. "But I'm sure Eva did an amazing job, as usual." They watched the stage, and then the crowd burst into cheers as Xyloto took the stage, holding onto Mylo and Eva's hands. Xyloto let go of Eva to wave at the crowd, a smile on his face. "Greetings, everyone!" he called out. "Thank you for the warm welcome!" The crowd applauded.

"Now," said Xyloto, "I know you're probably expecting a long speech from me…"

"Like two hours?" Jack's mother muttered.

"…such as the last speech I made, which, as I'm sure you all remember, was two hours long…" The crowd started to grumble, and Xyloto wagged his finger at them. "Today, my speech will be short! I swear it. Today, we are gathered in suspense to see at last the mural that my wonderful daughter Eva has been commissioned to paint on the wall of the Temperance Building. Some of you might not know what's so special about this mural. Why do we need one here? Well… let me say it's not just because we couldn't find Eva any paper.

"The mural was commissioned as a way of honoring the tenets of our religion, the religion that was surprisingly passed _up _from the teenagers of this city. It is the spiritual experience of soul love that anyone with a heart can feel. It is not something that you choose to believe in. If you have ever been absolutely in love with someone or something, in such a rapturous way that you feel you would do anything for him, her, or it- if you feel a tugging on your heart when you think about this person or thing, so strong that it sweeps you off your feet (metaphorically speaking, of course)- then you have felt soul love. Soul love does not demand anything from you. The more you have of it, the more there is.

"Not only have we come to honor this spiritual experience, but this mural was also commissioned to honor its three most devout worshippers, two of which have sadly passed on, who also happen to make up the last three members of the Aresian race. Ziggy Stardust only lived on Earth for a year, but he managed to touch thousands of lives within that small space of time. Aladdin Sane became a spiritual leader of the people when he came to this very planet millions of years ago. And it was Jack Stardust who taught us about soul love itself.

"Today we honor the memory of those Aresians who had to die for us, and the half-Aresian whose life was saved." Xyloto let go of Mylo's hand and made a grand flourish in the direction of the wall. "With no further ado, let the mural be unveiled!"

Several Diamond Dogs who were standing at the very bottom of the massive white sheet now picked up the corners in their mouths and pulled downwards, walking out. The painting came clear in the sunlight, and the citizens of Hunger City at first gasped, and then cheered. They all got down on their knees before it, one by one, except for Jack, who was a subject of worship, and his mother, who felt she could never bow down to her son.

Bright yellow rays of sunlight emanated out from the top of the painting, representing the soul love that controlled each human. They splashed about the face of the Father, Ziggy Stardust, copied expertly from Jack's newspaper article. His red hair glowed brightly, and his red painted lips were turned into a smile. His blue eyes, one with a larger pupil than the other and one with a lightning bolt painted over it, glowed with flecks of light. Underneath the Father was the Holy Spirit, Aladdin Sane, his image recreated from Jack's memory and then relayed to Eva. He was not smiling, and his face was marked with lines of exhaustion and circles beneath his glowing red eyes. Below the Holy Spirit was the Son, Jack Stardust himself, kneeling with his arms open to the crowd and his black hair falling in his face. A metal plaque below the Son was engraved with the words:

THE FATHER: ZIGGY STARDUST

THE HOLY SPIRIT: ALADDIN SANE

THE SON: HALLOWE'EN JACK

IN MEMORY OF THE ARESIANS

"LET THE CHILDREN USE IT

"LET THE CHILDREN LOSE IT

"LET ALL THE CHILDREN BOOGIE."

The End.


End file.
